LIBRARY    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,    N.    J. 
PRESENTED    BY 


Division. 

Section. ...\\^.7..\  U-. 


OB  SERVATI ONS 


MA^:' 24  1927 


om 


!  ?.I- 


L.  C' 


iNN'^: 


BIBLE 


FOB  THE   USE    OF 


YOUNG     PERSONS 


A  glory  gilds  the  sacred  page, 
Majestic  like  the  sun  ! 

It  gives  a  light  to  every  age ; 
It  gives,  but  borrows  none. 


boston: 
1842. 

JOHN    H.    EASTBURN. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  forty-two,  by  John  H.  Eastburn,  Proprietor,  in  the  Clerk's 
Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


This  little  tract  was  written  for  my  children;  that 
when  they  begin  to  perceive  the  difficulties  which 
occur  in  reading  the  Bible,  they  may  be  put  In  the 
way  of  discovering  the  explanation  of  them ;  and  that 
they  may  be,  in  some  degree,  prepared  to  meet  and 
answer  the  cavils  of  the  Infidel,  and  the  pretensions  of 
those  who  claim  an  exclusive  right  to  the  name  of 
Christian. 

A  species  of  error,  or  what  seems  to  me  error,  has 
lately  sprung  up  anew  in  the  world,  after  having  been, 
again  and  again,  banished  from  all  rational  society,  viz : 
mysticism,  confounding  the  Impression  made  upon 
us  by  the  vague  and  the  vast  with  profoundness  of 
thought ;  confusing  the  operations  of  the  understanding 
by  suffering  the  feelings,  the  wishes,  what  are  called  the 
aspirations  of  the  soul,  to  interfere  with  the   intellect ; 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

and  transforming  dreamy,  shadowy  phantoms  of  ideas 
into  proofs  of  the  greatness  of  the  dreamer's  immortal 
spirit,  or  proofs  of  its  divinity,  or  proofs  of  rehgious 
character,  or  into  proofs  of  any  thing.  Against  this  I 
vv^ished  to  guard  my  children,  and  in  conveying  to  them 
my  own  idea  of  what  constitutes  rehgion,  to  show  them 
that  no  substitute  for  it  can  be  found  in  obedience  to 
earthly  superiors,  in  the  adoption  of  a  particular  creed, 
in  adherence  to  certain  forms,  or  in  the  abandonment 
of  all  forms. 

I  desired,  also,  to  show,  as  distinctly  as  I  could, 
what  were  the  peculiar  merits  of  the  books  which  con- 
tain the  record  of  the  lives  and  thoughts  of  men  emi- 
nent in  the  religious  history  of  the  world,  and  the 
characteristic  excellences  of  those  men  themselves ; 
that  my  household,  at  least,  should  regard  them  neither 
with  indifference,  nor  contempt,  nor  with  a  blind, 
superstitious  reverence  ;  but  that,  holding  them  in  de- 
served respect,  they  might  know  the  reasons  on  which 
that  respect  should  be  founded. 

In  doing  this,  I  have  combined  the  results  of  former 
studies,  with  those  of  recent  reflection,  without  at- 
tempting to  distinguish  between  ideas  derived  from 
others,  and  those  which  are  my  own.  I  have  merely 
given  expression  to  what  I  found  in  my  own  mind, 
however  it  might  have  got  there. 


ADVERTISEMENT.  vi$ 

The  design  of  the  work  explains  the  famihar  tone 
prevaihng  through  it.  I  will  only  add,  that  my  expe- 
rience has  been  altogether  in  the  active  business  of 
hfe,  and  that  I  do  not  belong  to  the  clerical  profession. 

March,  1842. 


TABLE    OP    CONTENTS. 


Chap.     1.  Preliminary  Observations,  .     .       3 

Chap.     2.  Genesis, 26 

Chap.     3.  Exodus, 37 

Chap.  4.  The  Ceremonial  Law.  The  In- 
vasion OF  Canaan,  ....  54 
Chap.  5.  The  Character  of  Moses,  .  .  62 
Chap.  6.  Miracles.  Inspiration,  ...  69 
Chap.  7.  The  Historical  Books,  ...  95 
Chap.  8.  The  Poetical  Books,  ....  109 
Chap.  9.  The  Prophetic  Books,  .  .  .  126 
Chap.   10.  Preliminary   Remarks    on   the 

New  Testament, 139 

Chap.   11,   The  Gospels, 155 

Chap.   12.  The  Acts  and  Epistles,  .     .     .  189 


S  TA  M  E  N  T, 


CHAPTER    I. 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS. 


The  Bible  contains  the  only  rational  account  of 
the  creation  of  the  world,  and  of  the  early  history  of 
the  human  race,  which  is  known  to  exist.  There  are 
many  things  in  the  narrative  which  are  difficult  to  be 
understood  or  believed,  and  the  explanations  of  wise 
and  learned  men  have  been  very  various.  These  diffi- 
culties relate,  for  the  most  part,  however,  to  incidents 
of  little  importance  ;  to  details,  which  may,  or  may  not, 
hav^€  occurred  precisely  as  they  are  recorded,  without 
impairing  our  confidence  in  the  sufficient  accuracy  of 
the  general  current  of  the  story. 

The  history,  and  all  the  other  works  written  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  which  make  up  the  volume  we  call  the 
Bible,  were  written  by  men  who  were  born  in  Asia, 
and  belonged  to  a  race  whose  ^rabits  and  modes  of 
thinking  and  speaking  were  very  different  from  those 
of  the  nations  who  inhabited  any  part  of  Europe,  and 
especially  from  those  of  the  more  northern  people  from 
whom  we  are  descended.  It  is  very  difficult  for  us  to 
understand  the  figurative  style  of  speaking,  the  strong 
exaggerations,  and  the  extravagant  statements  in  which 


14  PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS* 

the  Orientals  delight  ;  and  it  is  only  by  becoming  fa- 
miliar with  the  mode  in  which  the  Asiatic  nations  write 
and  speak  at  the  present  day,  and  have  always  written 
and  spoken,  as  far  back  as  their  language  and  habits 
can  be  traced,  that  we  can  fully  appreciate  the  fact 
that  the  historical  and  other  books  of  the  Bible  were 
written  in  the  same  style,  and  are  to  be  interpreted  as 
other  Oriental  writings  require  to  be  understood.  The 
European  race  have  less  imagination,  and  being  more 
inclined  to  simple  statements  of  fact,  are  liable  to  fall 
into  great  errors  in  interpreting  eastern  compositions, 
unless  this  remarkable  difference  of  character  be  con- 
stantly borne  in  mind. 

For  a  long  period,  in  the  history  of  the  religious 
world,  this  circumstance  was  not  taken  into  consider- 
ation at  all,  and  it  was  even  thought  impious  to  suggest 
it.  It  was  said  that  the  Bible  was  the  "word  of 
"  God,"  and  that  the  men  who  penned  it  were  merely 
instruments  in  His  hands  to  write  what  should  be  dic- 
tated to  them  by  an  irresistible  inspiration.  Thus  the 
literal  interpretation  of  one  of  those  Oriental  figures  of 
speech,  by  which  human  language  was  called  the 
'^JVord  of  God,^^  prevented  the  right  understanding  of 
thousands  of  other  forms  of  expression  of  similar  char- 
acter. Though  this  idea  of  a  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
scriptures  is  not  now  universal,  yet  the  effects  of  its 
long  prevalence  are  manifest  in  what  I  think  the  un- 
happy errors  which  have  been  perpetuated  from  gener- 
eration  to  generation,  and  have  become  embodied  in 
systems  of  theology  which  are  the  professed  doctrines 
of  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  Christian  church. 


PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  15 

The  books  of  the  Old  Testament  contain  history, 
poetry,  prophecy,  biography,  and  a  peculiar  species  of 
composition  called  proverbs,  little  sentences  in  which 
much  meaning  is  condensed  into  few  words.  These 
books  were  all  originally  written  in  Hebrew,  by  men 
who  lived  at  diiFerent  periods  ;  and  it  is  a  very  curious 
circumstance  that  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
one  that  has  by  no  means  been  very  conspicuous  in  the 
political  history  of  the  world,  that  inhabited  a  very  cir- 
cumscribed territory,  and  was  neither  very  numerous 
nor  powerful  at  any  period,  should  have  been  so  much 
better  preserved  than  that  of  contemporary,  or  more 
powerful,  or  more  populous  nations. 

Another  thing  which  is  particularly  striking  Is,  that 
this  people,  certainly  not  pre-eminent  for  their  intel- 
lectual or  moral  elevation,  should  have  been  so  far  in 
advance  of  all  others  as  they  were  on  the  subject  of 
the  nature  and  attributes  of  God,  man's  relation  to 
Him,  and  the  duties  which  arise  from  that  relation. 
For  a  long  series  of  ages,  the  worship  of  the  true  and 
only  God  was,  with  some  difficulty,  preserved  among 
the  Hebrews,  and  by  them  alone  of  all  the  nations  of 
the  world,  till  the  time  arrived  for  a  more  perfect  rev- 
elation of  His  character  and  will,  which  was  made  first 
to  this  people,  and  afterwards  to  nations  who,  from 
their  greater  civihzation,  ingenuity,  and  cultivation, 
might  have  been  expected  to  have  been  as  much  in  ad- 
vance of  the  Jews  on  this  subject,  as  they  were  on 
others. 

The  great  superiority  of  the  rehgious  literature  of 
the  Jews,  and  the  incomparable  sublimity  and  beauty 


16  PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS, 

of  their  religious  poetry,  are  things  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  explain  by  reference  to  their  intellectual 
powers  alone.  They  show  in  a  very  striking  manner 
the  superiority  of  truth  over  fiction  ;  especially  of  the 
sublime  truths  of  true  rehgion  over  the  absurd  fables 
of  man's  invention,  even  upon  minds  of  the  most 
common  capacity.  If  the  Egyptians  or  Greeks  had 
been  favored  with  this  knowledge,  it  might  and  doubt- 
less would  have  been  said,  that  it  was  their  wisdom 
and  learning  which  gave  them  their  religious  as  well  as 
their  intellectual  superiority.  But  this  can  scarcely  be 
said  of  the  Hebrews.  They  were  not  superior  to 
their  neighbours  in  any  one  thing  but  their  knowledge 
of  the  nature  and  character  of  the  Deity;  and  how 
could  it  happen  that  they  should  be  so  much  better  in* 
formed  than  all  other  people  on  this  single  point  ?  I 
can  account  for  it  in  no  way  but  by  the  belief  that  the 
narrative  contained  in  their  books,  of  a  special  in- 
terference of  God,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  alive 
among  one  people,  at  least,  the  knowledge  of  Himself, 
is  substantially  true  ;  and  that  they  were  selected  as 
the  depositaries  of  this  most  important  knowledge,  for 
this  reason,  among  others,  that  it  w^ould  not  be  imagin- 
ed that  they  could,  of  their  own  bright  understandings, 
have  invented  this  system  of  theology,  and  that  it  rested 
on  no  higher  authority  than  the  idolatry  and  folly  which 
were  the  result  of  the  rehgious  studies  of  other  nations. 
Consider  this  till  you  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the  ar- 
gument. If  all  the  other  nations  of  antiquity,  (and  all 
of  modern  times  too,  where  Christianity  is  unknown) 
have  been  totally  ignorant  on  this  subject,  and  however 


PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  it 

enlightened,  ingenious,  wise,  and  civilized  on  all  other 
points,  have  fallen  into  the  greatest  absurdities  on  this, 
and  adopted  ideas  either  glaringly  silly,  or  so  exceed* 
ingly  gross  that  they  can  scarcely  be  mentioned,  how 
does  it  happen  that  the  Jews  alone  possessed  this  sub- 
lime knowledge  ?  Does  not  this  single  circumstance 
suffice  to  show  that  there  must  have  been  an  interposi- 
tion, of  some  sort,  by  God  in  their  favor  ?  I  cannot 
but  think  it  does.  And  this  interposition,  so  long  con- 
tinued, and  ending  at  last  in  the  still  more  wonderful 
revelation  by  Jesus  Christ,  renders  their  history  and 
their  literature  exceedingly  interesting — far  more  so 
than  those  of  any  other  people. 

The  knowledge  of  the  character  of  our  Creator,  and 
of  the  object  of  our  creation,  may  truly  be  said  to  be 
of  infinite  importance  to  us.  There  is  no  other  know- 
ledge which  can  be  compared  with  it,  for  effect  upon 
the  character  and  conduct.  Philosophy  may  teach  us 
what  is  to  be,  by  a  careful  and  wise  observation  of 
what  is,  and  of  what  has  been.  But  how  uncertain 
after  all,  are  her  best  inferences  !  How  difficult  to 
feel  sure  that  the  sphere  of  observation  has  been  wide 
enough  to  justify  the  conclusion  !  And  how  feeble  is 
her  influence,  opposed,  as  it  often  is,  by  that  of  the 
imagination,  the  senses  and  the  passions  ! 

But  let  us  once  be  convinced  that  God  is  a  perfect 
being,  and  that  He  has  created  us  with  certain  facul- 
ties, which  He  has  given  us  the  power,  and  made  it  our 
duty  to  improve,  and  the  principal  difficulty  in  under- 
standing our  position,  and  the  end  and  object  of  our 
being  is  at  once  removed.     We  are  here  to  improve 

2* 


18  PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATiaNS. 

the  capacity  God  has  given  us,  as  far  as  the  circum- 
stances in  which  He  has  placed  us  will  permit ;  and  if 
we  ask  why  we  are  placed  here  rather  than  in  another 
planet,  or  why  we  have  precisely  human  powers,  rather 
than  the  faculties  of  angels  or  animals,  we  ought  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  answer,  that  we  are  not  in  a  condition 
to  understand  the  reason.  It  can  be  explained  only  to 
a  being  who  is  able  to  comprehend  the  constitution  of 
the  whole  universe,  of  which  we  are  not  capable ;  and 
we  must  therefore  wait  for  the  explanation  till  God 
shall  see  fit  to  enable  us  to  understand  it.  To  doubt 
His  perfection,  because  we  feel  our  own  infirmity  and 
narrowness  of  power,  is  a  very  weak  and  false  conclu- 
sion to  reach. 

And  so  of  the  circumstances  which  surround  us  in 
life,  there  are  many  which  seem  to  us  strange,  what 
we  call  mysterious  and  inexplicable.  But  as  it  is  quite 
impossible  that  we  should  know  all  the  bearings  and 
relations  of  those  circumstances,  their  appearing  inex- 
plicable to  us  proves  nothing  more  than  our  own  weak- 
ness and  imperfection ;  not  that  the  circumstances  are 
really  unintelligible,  but  that  we  are  not  able  to  find  out 
the  explanation. 

This  weakness  and  imperfection  of  our  nature  and 
capacity  is  a  thing  never  to  be  forgotten,  whether  we 
are  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  understand  the  obscuri- 
ties of  God's  providence,  or  are  endeavoring  to  explain 
the  difficulties  of  His  word. 

There  are  certain  great  general  truths  of  which  we 
may  be  convinced,  and  in  which  we  must  be  contented 
to   rest   with  unwavering   confidence,   notwithstanding 


PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  19 

that  circumstances,  or  language,  may  sometimes  ap- 
pear, to  our  limited  views,  inconsistent  with  those  all 
important  truths.  The  less  important  and  the  doubtful 
must  yield  to  the  more  important  and  the  certain. 
Thus  it  is  certain  that  our  capacities  are  hmited  to  a 
much  narrower  sphere  than  we  can  perceive  to  be 
occupied  by  the  wonders  of  creation  ;  that  we  do  not 
understand  the  manner  in  which  many  things  we  see 
passing  around  us  are  brought  about,  (Indeed  we  do 
not  know  the  process  by  Avhich  a  single  blade  of  grass 
is  made  to  grow,  or  to  perish)  that  beauty  and  happi- 
ness abound  in  that  portion  of  the  universe  with  which 
w^e  are  somewhat  acquainted,  and  that  suffering  and 
deformity  are  not  the  rule  of  being,  as  they  would  be 
if  the  Deity  were  malignant,  and  as  they  might  be  If 
He  were  w^eak  or  imperfect.  Whereas  It  Is  only 
doubtful  whether  the  event,  or  the  language,  which 
seems  to  us  inconsistent  with  the  perfection  of  God, 
be  really  so  or  not.  We  cannot  know  that  It  Is ;  but 
we  do  know  our  ow^n  ignorance.  Which,  then,  is  the 
fair  Inference,  that  we  cannot  see  all  the  designs  of  the 
Almighty,  or  that  He  is  capricious,  or  cruel,  or  weak  ? 
In  estimating  the  value  of  the  Bible  to  the  world, 
we  must  remember  that  we  are  indebted  to  It,  and  to  It 
alone,  for  all  the  just  views  of  the  character  of  God, 
and  the  character  and  condition  of  man  that  have  ever 
prevailed  extensively.  Here  and  there  a  philosopher 
may  have  thrown  out  a  hint  of  his  suspicion  that  the 
Creator  was  a  great  and  good  being,  but  no  such  opin- 
ion ever  prevailed,  with  an  operative  influence  upon 
the  minds  of  men,  except  through  the  agency  of  the 


20  PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS. 

various  works  called  the  Bible.  And  why  is  it  that 
these  works  have  produced  such  an  extraordinary 
effect  ?  It  is  not  merely  because  they  speak  in  uniform 
consistency  with  the  language  of  nature,  but  that  they 
speak  with  more  explicitness,  and  with  an  authority 
which  they  derive  from  the  interposition  of  God  to  im- 
press these  all  important  truths  upon  men's  minds ;  and 
because  they  contain  the  evidence  of  that  which  renders 
all  that  would  otherwise  be  mysterious  to  us,  at  once 
clear  and  satisfactory,  viz  :  the  evidence  of  our  beings 
designed  to  live  after  our  existence  here  shall  have  ter- 
minated. 

It  is  this  which  illuminates  all  that  is  dark  or  obscure 
in  this  life,  and  which  makes,  or  ought  to  make,  our 
reliance  upon  God  perfect;  while,  without  the  know- 
ledge of  a  future  state,  the  doubt  and  perplexity,  and 
vain  imaginations  which  overshadow  all  other  people, 
would  have  been  our  portion  also.  Is  it  not  natural  to 
say,  therefore,  that  the  knowledge  of  these  things  is  of 
irifiviite  importance  to  mankind  ?  The  scriptures  very 
justly  represent  it  so,  and  state,  in  various  ways,  the 
immeasurable  value  to  men  of  an  acquaintance  with 
God  and  themselves,  their  situation,  and  the  object  of 
their  existence. 

I  must  add  that,  in  my  belief,  it  is  this  knowledge 
alone  which  gives  their  peculiar  value  to  the  scriptures. 
It  is  not  because  God  has  determined  to  give  future 
life  to  those  who  are  favored  with  the  Bible,  and  to 
deprive  of  existence,  or  of  happiness,  all  other  human 
beings,  (as  some  have  shockingly  supposed)  nor  is  it 
because  a  happy  state  of  existence  hereafter  depends 


PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  21 

upon  a  right  understanding  of  the  phraseology  of  the 
Bible,  or  on  a  belief  in  certain  dogmas  relative  to  the 
divine  and  human  character  and  conduct,  that  we  should 
value  the  Bible,  and  study  it  with  care.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  believe  that  all  heathen  nations  are  to 
perish  everlastingly,  in  order  to  make  us  prize  the  rev- 
elation of  God's  character  and  will.  Neither  is  it 
necessary  that  we  should  believe  the  happiness  or 
misery  of  an  eternal  life  depends  upon  our  right  in- 
terpretation of  certain  passages  in  the  Bible,  in  order 
that  we  may  feel  a  deep  reverence  for  the  scriptures, 
and  an  earnest  desire  to  understand  them  aright,  and  to 
study  them  thoughtfully  and  conscientiously. 

You  will  perceive  hereafter,  when  you  learn  the 
astonishing  importance  attached  by  some  theologians  to 
certain  sentences  in  the  Bible,  why  I  am  anxious  to 
present  this  view  to  your  minds  in  the  outset.  God 
has  given  you  understanding,  that  you  may  read  and 
compare  His  works  and  His  word,  and  inquire  and 
judge  for  yourselves  what  is  the  meaning  of  each  and 
of  all.  Never  surrender  this  power,  and  right,  and 
duty  to  any  other  person.  Do  not  be  alarmed,  if  men, 
fallible  men,  say  that  you  must  beheve  this  or  that  doc- 
trine, because  it  is  in  the  Bible.  Look  for  yourselves, 
as  carefully  as  you  can,  and  if  you  do  not  find  it  there, 
it  is  not  there,  to  you.  And  no  man,  according  to  the 
language  of  the  book  regarded  by  all  with  such  rever- 
ence, has  a  right  to  say  that  you  are  in  danger  of  eter- 
nal suffering,  because  you  interpret  the  Bible  differently 
from  him.  "  Who  art  thou  that  judgest  another  man's 
''  servant  ?     To  his  own  master  he  standeth  or  falleth," 


22  PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS. 

We  are  all  the  servants  of  our  Maker,  and  no  other 
can  give  us  either  life  or  death,  nor  determine  with  pre- 
cision what  his  own,  or  our  future  state  will  be.  The 
imperfection  of  our  faculties  is  proof  enough  that  we 
are  not  designed  to  be  lords  and  masters  over  each 
other,  in  matters  of  the  understanding  ;  and  while  the 
wisest  so  frequently  err  in  their  observations  and  their 
deductions,  and  the  best  so  frequently  in  their  sense  of 
duty,  it  becomes  us  all  to  be  mutually  charitable  and 
respectful. 

At  the  same  time  that  I  wish  to  inculcate  this  inde- 
pendence of  the  unwarranted  dominion  of  others,  I  by 
no  means  desire  to  exonerate  you  from  feeling  and  tes- 
tifying the  respect  to  which  they  are  truly  entitled.  If 
modesty  be  becoming  in  all,  it  is  indispensable  in  those 
whose  short  experience,  and  unpractised  minds  need 
all  the  aid  they  can  find  to  enable  them  to  perform  their 
part  well  in  the  world. 

It  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  youth  and  inexpe- 
rience, not  to  be  aware  of  this  necessity.  Ignorant  of 
what  is  to  be  learned  and  done,  the  young  are  uncon- 
scious, to  a  great  extent,  of  their  own  deficiencies,  and 
are  prone  to  a  degree  of  self-reliance  which  gradually 
diminishes  as  they  advance  in  hfe  and  wisdom.  The 
sooner  reflection  brings  them  to  the  perception  of  their 
weakness  and  ignorance,  the  sooner  they  deserve  and 
enjoy  the  respect  of  those  who  are  older  and  wiser 
than  themselves.  The  perfection  of  youthful  character 
in  this  respect  would  be,  to  feel  deference  for  the  views 
and  opinions  of  others,  proportioned  to  their  relative 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  without  surrendering  the  con- 


PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  23 

victions  of  their  own  understanding  after  comparing,  as 
far  as  opportunity  allows,  the  different  conclusions  of 
different  minds. 

In  saying  just  now,  that  the  communication  of  truth 
respecting  God  and  man,  was  the  only  thing  that  gave 
peculiar  value  to  the  Bible,  I  should  have  confined  the 
remark  to  religious  subjects.  There  are  other  things 
which,  give  an  interest  and  value  to  the  scriptures,  alto- 
gether superior  to  those  possessed  by  any  other  works, 
in  any  language.  In  the  first  place,  the  wisdom  w^hich 
is  shown  by  many  of  the  WTiters,  the  acquaintance  with 
human  nature,  in  its  weakness  and  its  strength,  its 
beauty  and  its  deformity,  and  the  adaptation  of  the 
motives  addressed  to  the  human  mind,  motives  w^hich 
operate  now  as  they  did  three  or  four  thousand  years 
ago,  are  all  very  remarkable  and  very  superior  to  the 
similar  qualities  shown  by  any  other  writers,  ancient  or 
modern.  This  knowledge  of  our  universal  nature  is  a 
great  charm  in  an  author,  and  raises  him  who  shows  it 
to  the  highest  rank,  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellow  men. 
It  is  the  mark  of  great  power  of  observation  and  reflec- 
tion. Now  in  that  collection  of  books  called  the  Bible, 
there  is  more  wisdom,  and  more  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  than  in  all  the  other 
books  I  have  ever  read  put  together.  There  are  a 
multitude  of  passages  which  prove  this  great  wisdom, 
but  scarcely  one  which  indicates  that  the  writer  was 
ignorant  or  superficial  on  the  subject.  Every  thing  is 
adapted  to  the  end  designed ;  every  thing  is  described 
with  a  clear  understanding  of  motives  and  intentions, 
and  w^ith  a  beautiful  and  wonderful  simphcity. 


24  PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS. 

And  all  this  is  very  strikingly  different  from  most 
Other  histories  and  jDoems,  whether  ancient  or  modern^ 
in  which  we  can  very  rarely  discern  that  just  judgment 
of  motives,  and  are  often  misled  by  the  prejudices,  or 
narrow  views  of  the  writer ;  and  in  modern  times  es- 
pecially, we  are  annoyed  by  a  style  of  ambitious  dis- 
play, which  compares  very  unfavorably  with  the  sim- 
plicity and  discernment  exhibited  in  the  Bible. 

Another  thing  which  challenges  admiration  is  the 
great  beauty  of  the  poetry  and  the  apologues  scattered 
throughout  the  volume.  The  poetry  never  has  been 
and  probably  never  will  be  surpassed ;  and  the  various 
stories  which  occur  are  as  subhme  for  the  wise  instruc- 
tion they  contain,  as  they  are  beautiful  for  the  language 
in  which  it  is  conveyed.  The  examples  and  the  warn- 
ings wiiich  may  be  drawn  from  the  real  characters  de- 
lineated, especially  in  the  New  Testament,  are  beyond 
all  compare  more  instructive  than  any  that  can  be  de- 
duced from  similar  descriptions  in  any  or  all  other 
works. 

We  have  reasons  enough  then  for  the  deepest  inter- 
est in  studying  this  collection  of  works,  from  the  sub- 
jects of  which  they  principally  treat,  and  their  manner 
of  treating  them.  It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  overstate 
their  claims  to  respect,  by  setting  up  pretensions  their 
authors  never  made,  or  by  asserting  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  scriptures  is  the  only  passport  to  Heaven,  or 
that  we  ai'e  to  be  forever  excluded  from  it,  if  we  do 
not  interpret  aright  what  is  difficult,  obscure  or  per- 
plexing. We  are  to  use  our  best  efforts  to  understand 
the  Bible  and  we  shall  scarcely  fail  to  do  so,  if  we 


PRELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  25 

properly  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  subject ;  but 
having  done  that,  we  are  responsible  to  our  Maker 
alone,  and  may  safely  say  to  any  human  being,  who 
undertakes  to  condemn  our  interpretation,  '^  Who  made 
*Hhee  a  judge  over  me  ?"  How  is  it  possible  for  one 
imperfect  being  to  say  to  another  with  the  confidence 
we  sometimes  witness — I  am  right  and  you  are  wrong  ? 
We  are  all  right,  if  we  are  conscientious.  We  are  all 
wrong,  if  we  are  not  conscientious.  This  presumption, 
however,  when  it  arises  from  a  proper  though  misdirect- 
ed feeling  of  reverence  for  particular  parts  of  the  scrip- 
tures, which  have  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  mind, 
is  very  excusable,  and  indeed  very  honorable  to  the  mo- 
tives which  actuate  the  individual — infinitely  more  so, 
at  least,  than  the  opposite  fault,  of  despising  the  book 
which  contains  such  instruction,  such  beauty,  sublimity, 
and  simplicity,  and  which  treats  of  subjects  that  every 
rational  being  must  regard  as  of  the  greatest  moment. 
Increduhty,  after  examination,  is  a  thing  which, 
though  difficult  to  understand,  may  be  forgiven.  Levi- 
ty, inattention  to  the  highest  of  all  studies,  admit  of  no 
excuse.  I  beg  you,  therefore,  to  read  the  Bible  with 
the  greatest  care,  and  to  keep  the  most  useful  and 
beautiful  parts  of  it  fresh  in  your  memory,  by  frequent 
reperusal,  and  to  seek  explanations  of  such  difficulties 
as  occur  to  you  in  suitable  works,  or  of  those  persons 
who  are  most  likely  to  be  able  to  give  you  the  informa- 
tion 3^ou  desire.  I  am  about  to  prepare  for  you  such 
brief  remarks  upon  the  character  and  contents  of  these 
works  as  will,  I  hope,  aid  you  in  your  effi3rts  to  under- 
stand them,  or  at  least,  shew  you  the  proper  methods 
to  pursue  in  studying  them. 


26  GENESIS, 


CHAPTER    II.       GENESIS. 

The  first  five  books  which  we  find  on  opening  the 
Bible  were  probably  written  by  Moses,  the  lawgiver  of 
the  Jews,  who  lived  about  twenty-four  or  twenty-five 
hundred  years  after  the  creation  of  man.  The  first  of 
these  books  contains  the  history  of  the  world  previous 
to  his  own  time,  and  the  others  an  account  of  himself 
and  his  nation  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

A  great  many  questions  and  controversies  have  been 
started  by  critics,  philosophers  and  skeptics,  about  the 
accuracy  of  this  history  of  the  creation.  One  man 
asks,  for  instance,  how  day  and  night  could  exist  before 
the  creation  of  the  sun,  which  was  not  made  till  the 
fourth  day ;  another  informs  us  that  the  discoveries  of 
modern  times  prove  the  existence  of  the  world  for  a 
much  longer  period  than  is  assigned  to  it  by  the  Bible 
history,  and  of  a  series  of  convulsions  and  slow  forma- 
tions, of  which  no  notice  is  taken  in  the  account  by 
Moses ;  while  a  third  laughs  at  what  he  calls  the  idle 
stories  of  the  forming  of  w^oman  from  the  rib  of  man, 
the  garden  of  Eden,  and  man's  fall  and  expulsion  there- 
from. 

If  the  precise  accuracy  of  the  narrative  is  to  be  in- 
sisted on,  as  it  must  be  if  supposed  to  come  directly 
from  the  Almighty  as  a  history,  these  questions  and 
cavils  would  be  very  embarrassing ;  but  if  Moses  be 
supposed  to  have  used,  as  well  as  he  could,  the  ^'  un- 
"'  derstanding"  which  is  called  ^'  the  inspiration  of  the 


GENESIS.  27 

"  Almighty,"  (Job  32,  8,)  and  of  which  he  had  no 
common  share,  in  collecting  the  traditions  that  seemed 
to  him  most  authentic,  among  those  which  were  cur- 
rent in  his  day  on  these  subjects,  we  shall  feel  no  hesi- 
tation in  entertaining  a  high,  but  not  superstitious,  rev- 
erence for  these  venerable  traditions,  and  we  shall  find 
no  great  difficulty,  I  apprehend,  in  reconcihng  the 
leading  facts,  as  narrated,  with  the  discoveries  of  sci- 
ence, or  with  the  lessons  of  wisdom  and  experience. 
What  difficulty  is  there,  for  instance,  in  supposing  the 
word  "  day  "  to  refer  to  some  indefinite  period  of  time, 
during  which,  perhaps,  those  changes  of  the  surface  of 
the  globe  which  philosophers  think  they  have  discovered, 
may  have  taken  place  ?  Or  even,  why  should  we  not 
believe  that  those  seemingly  slow  changes  may  have 
happened  during  a  single  revolution  of  the  earth,  which 
we  now  call  a  day  ?  To  omnipotence  "  one  day  is  as 
"  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day." 

Another  mode  of  explaining  the  account  is  that  cer- 
tain changes  took  place  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
which  had  already  been  in  existence  for  ages,  to  pre- 
pare it  for  the  residence  of  man ;  and  that  these  chan- 
ges are  described,  without  particular  limitation  of  time, 
as  they  would  successively  have  appeared  to  human 
eyes,  had  men  been  existing  to  observe  them.  This 
seems  to  me  a  very  natural  and  rational  mode  of  inter- 
pretation. 

But  if  we  reject  this  account  as  containing  inconsis- 
tencies and  incredible  things,  where  is  there  any  other 
which  is  better,  or  indeed  any  at  all  ?     For  simplicity 


29  GENESIS. 

and  sublimity  it  cannot  be  surpassed,  and  for  its  accu- 
racy in  the  assertion  that  "  in  the  beginning  God  cre- 
"  ated  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  nothing  that  science 
or  philosophy  has  discovered,  or  can  discover,  gives 
any  ground  to  impeach  it.  It  is  said  by  those  who 
have  most  carefully  examined  the  subject,  that  modern 
science  confirms,  in  a  surprising  manner,  the  principal 
statements  of  Moses  in  the  brief  sketch  of  creation,  and 
particularly  of  the  proximate  date  of  the  formation  of 
man  with  which  he  commenced  his  writings. 

Then  with  regard  to  the  mode  of  the  creation  of 
man,  his  fall  and  expulsion  from  Eden,  suppose  cir- 
cumstances are  mentioned  which  did  not  happen,  or 
even  suppose  the  whole  to  be  a  parable — it  is  still  a 
beautiful  and  instructive  one ;  and  while  there  is  noth- 
ing intrinsically  incredible  in  it,  I  think  he  must  be 
considered  unreasonable,  who  cavils  at  this  only  and 
interesting  account  of  the  creation  of  man,  which,  if 
true,  is  a  most  valuable  history,  and  if  not  true,  a  most 
instructive  apologue. 

I  do  not  think  it  would  be  at  all  inconsistent  with 
due  reverence  to  suppose  that  the  paradise  meant  in 
the  story  is  the  state  of  innocence  itself,  and  that  the 
death  which  was  threatened,  and  the  expulsion  which 
followed  upon  disobedience  were  intended  to  represent 
the  horrors  which  are  the  consequences  of  conscious 
guilt,  and  the  impossibihty  of  recovering  the  lost  Eden 
of  innocence.  Remember,  then,  you  who  are  yet 
guiltless  of  any  serious  offences,  that  your  present  state 
of  innocence,  if  once  lost,  can  never  be  restored,  and 


GENESIS.  29 

that  '' a  flaming  sword  turning  every  way"  will  be 
found  to  penetrate  your  heart  with  feelings  much  worse 
than  physical  suffering — even  than  death  itself. 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  improbabihty,  and  even 
the  impossibility  of  the  descent  of  all  the  varieties  of 
the  human  species  from  a  single  stock.  But  the  im- 
possibihty  has  never  been  shown,  and  the  improbability 
appeal's  greater  at  the  first  suggestion  of  the  idea,  than 
it  does  upon  examination,  when  the  difhculties  in  the 
case  diminish  very  much,  if  they  do  not  altogether  disr 
appear ;  and  the  power  of  circumstances — what  are 
called  accidents  J  but  which  in  reality  are  God's  arrange- 
ments— is  found  wonderfully  great  over  the  physical 
and  even  the  moral  qualities  of  mankind. 

The  effect  of  time  is  scarcely  enough  appreciated  in 
estimating  difficulties  of  this  sort.  The  improvement 
or  corruption  of  the  species  is  pretty  rapid  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  as  we  may  perceive,  by  comparing 
different  periods  with  which  we  are  somewhat  acquaint- 
ed. It  is  about  eight  hundred  years  since  the  invasion 
of  England  by  William  of  Normandy,  and  if  we  com- 
pare the  modern,  cultivated,  high  bred  Englishman, 
with  his  Saxon  or  Norman  progenitor,  wild,  cruel,  and 
rude  as  he  was  at  that  day,  shall  we  not  find  difference 
enough  to  constitute  almost  a  distinct  species  ?  But  it 
is  probably  more  than  four  thousand  years,  or  five 
times  the  period  just  named,  since  the  deluge ;  and 
during  that  whole  length  of  time  the  causes  of  diversity 
have  been  in  the  most  active  operation. 

Again,  observe  the  wonderful  difference  in  the  char- 
acter and  appearance  of  men  who  inhabit  different  sides 

3* 


30  GENESIS. 

of  a  river  or  a  mountain,  caused  by  various  forms  of 
government,  or  national  customs  which  have  been  long 
perpetuated.  On  one  side  you  will  see  them  solemn, 
phlegmatic,  and  passive,  on  the  other,  mercurial  and 
active.  And  the  physical  are  as  great  as  the  mental 
differences.  Taking  such  varieties  into  view,  as  either 
existing  contemporaneously  in  neighboring  territories, 
or  as  succeeding  each  other  in  the  same  country,  and 
recollecting  that  every  climate,  soil  and  form  of  gov- 
ernment, with  endless  other  sources  of  variety,  from 
Central  Africa  to  Siberia  and  New  Holland,  have  been 
actively  engaged  in  creating  diversities  among  mankind, 
and  we  shall  perhaps  wonder  rather  that  there  is  so  much 
resemblance,  than  that  there  is  so  much  difference. 
How  population  was  scattered  over  the  earth,  spread- 
ing from  land  to  land,  from  continent  to  continent,  and 
island  to  island,  is  a  question  of  equal  difhculty  upon  any 
hypothesis,  and  no  argument  from  it  can  properly  be 
urged  against  the  truth  of  the  Bible  history,  as  the  facts 
conflict  with  that  no  more  than  with  any  other  account 
which  can  be  given  of  the  creation  and  dispersion  of  man. 
Another  cavil  has  been  raised  against  the  truth  of 
the  Mosaic  account,  from  the  very  great  length  of  life 
ascribed  to  the  antediluvian  patriarchs.  Great  un- 
doubtedly it  is,  compared  with  that  of  which  we  have  any 
specimens  under  our  observation.  But  there  is  nothing 
intrinsically  incredible  in  it ;  and  why  should  not  as  great 
a  change  have  taken  place,  at  the  deluge,  in  the  con- 
stitution of  man,  as  in  that  of  the  planet  on  which  he 
lives  ?  It  is  somewhat  presumptuous  to  say — we  have 
never  seen  a  man  five  hundred  years  old,  therefore  it 


GENESIS.  31 

is  absurd  to  suppose  one  could  live  so  long.  But  if 
the  story  be  set  down  as  a  mere  tradition,  which  we 
may  beheve  or  not,  as  we  see  probabilities  for  or 
against  it,  is  the  veracity  of  Moses  impeached  ?  Is  his 
history  invalidated  ?  I  think  not,  in  any  important 
degree. 

After  the  accoimt  of  the  deluge,  the  story  is  speedily 
narrowed  down  to  the  narrative  of  the  selection  of 
Abraham  by  God,  as  the  ancestor  of  a  chosen  people, 
who  were  to  be  the  depositaries  of  a  religious  truth  the 
knowledge  of  which  would  be  lost  by  all  the  rest  of  the 
world.  This  history  is  full  of  the  most  interesting 
indications  of  truth,  in  the  indirect,  and  as  it  were 
accidental  allusions  to  the  modes  of  life,  the  climate, 
productions  and  local  characteristics  of  the  region  in 
which  the  scene  is  laid.  It  seems  impossible  that  it 
should  have  been  WTitten  by  any  one  but  an  inhabitant 
of  that  portion  of  the  earth,  or  that  such  traditions 
could  have  originated  any  where  else ;  and  of  those 
things  which  are  of  a  miraculous  character,  and  there- 
fore incredible  by  some  minds,  an  explanation  may  be 
given,  it  seems  to  me,  which  may  satisfy  us  of  the  sub- 
stantial correctness  of  the  account.  For  instance,  the 
destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  is  said  to  have 
been  a  punishment  inflicted  by  God  for  the  wickedness 
of  those  cities,  and  that  messengers,  or  angels,  were 
sent  to  warn  Lot,  as  the  only  good  man  among  them, 
to  escape  with  his  family.  Now  it  is  a  very  common 
thing,  in  rude  and  simple  states  of  society,  to  attribute 
uncommon  events  to  the  direct  action  of  a  superior 
power ;  and  it  is  no  cause  of  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that 


32  GENESIS. 

towns  or  cities  were  destroyed,  that  men  thought  it  was 
a  punishment  for  their  crimes.  On  the  contrary  it  seems 
to  me  a  confirmation  of  the  statement  that  they  were 
vicious,  that  the  destruction  which  overtook  them  was 
thought  by  their  neighbors  to  be  the  act  of  God.  If 
they  were  given  up  to  sensual  indulgence,  brutalizing 
and  degrading  their  moral  and  intellectual  nature,  it  is 
extremely  probable  that  they  either  would  not  perceive, 
or  would  not  understand,  the  previous  indications  which 
are  ordinarily  given  of  a  volcanic  convulsion  of  nature  ; 
while  Lot,  having  the  proper  use  of  his  faculties,  would 
see  the  natural  signs  of  an  approaching  catastrophe, 
and  warned  by  those  wonders  which  are  just  as  much 
angels  as  "  j)rophets  sent  from  God,"  would  effect 
his  escape  from  the  devoted  region. 

Travellers  inform  us  that  there  are  evident  indica- 
tions, on  the  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea,  of  a  population 
having  once  existed  there,  which  is  no  longer  to  be 
found ;  and  which  could  not,  indeed,  bear  with  comfort 
the  influence  of  the  exhalations  from  that  heavy  and  al- 
most motionless  water.  Asphaltum  and  sulphur  are 
not  favorable  to  animal  life ;  and  if  any  population  ever 
resided  there,  it  was  probably  under  very  different  cir- 
cumstances from  those  which  now  exist. 

And  why  should  we  refuse  to  call  a  convulsion  of 
nature  like  that  an  interposition  of  Providence  ?  It 
was  the  act  of  God,  just  as  much  as  if  the  brimstone 
and  fire  had  been  created  in  another  planet,  and  brought 
to  the  destruction  of  those  towns.  The  course  of 
Providence  perpetually  rewards  and  ptinishes  men  in 
this  world  ;    sometimes   by  the  operation  of  physical 


GENESIS.  33 

agents,  like  storms  and  volcanoes,  and  sometimes  by 
the  consequences  which  God  had  made  them  to  follow 
from  wrong  or  well  doing.  These  agreeable  or  pain- 
ful occurrences  are  rewards,  trials,  or  punishments, 
according  to  the  state  of  mind  and  character  in  which 
they  overtake  men ;  and  though  I  would,  by  no  means, 
encourage  the  disposition  to  interpret  such  events  ac- 
cording to  our  own  fancy,  with  regard  to  what  befalls 
others,  when  we  cannot  know  the  whole  case,  yet 
every  man  of  reflection  and  observation  may,  I  think, 
trace  the  hand  of  God  in  the  circumstances  which 
have  disciplined  him,  and  the  influences  which  have 
operated  on  him,  the  trials  which  have  afflicted  him, 
and  the  temptations  he  has  either  overcome  or  yielded 
to.  And  it  is  not  the  least  objection  to  the  truth  of 
a  narrative  that  a  miraculous  cause  is  assigned  for  a 
transaction,  or  an  event,  which  may  seem  to  be  brought 
about  in  the  course  of  nature.  It  may  be,  nay,  it  must 
be,  both  a  natural  event,  and  one  which  marks  an  over- 
ruling Providence.  The  history  of  the  world  will  not 
and  cannot  be  read  aright,  nor  to  its  most  valuable  pur- 
pose, till  the  general  connexion  between  virtue  and 
prosperity,  vice  and  calamity  be  acknowledged,  nor  till 
events  be  traced  to  their  moral,  as  well  as  their  physi- 
cal and  political  causes. 

Another  thing,  which  has  been  made  a  ground  of 
objection  to  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  history,  is  the  con- 
stant and  direct  intercourse  which  is  represented  to 
have  taken  place  between  God  and  men.  Conversa- 
tions are  related,  from  the  days  of  Adam  to  those  of 
Moses ;  miraculous  manifestations  of  God  are  continu- 


34  GENESIS. 

ally  spoken  of,  and  a  sort  of  familiarity  seems  to  have 
existed  incompatible,  it  is  said,  alike  with  nature  and 
reason.  If  such  things  occurred  in  the  first  two  thous- 
and years  of  the  world's  history,  why  have  they  never 
happened  since  ? 

I  think  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  point  out  a  reason 
why  the  Almighty  should  treat  in  a  very  different  man- 
ner those  who  were  placed  on  earth  among  its  first  ra- 
tional inhabitants,  and  those  who  succeeded  them  after 
a  long  period,  filled  with  the  records  of  experience, 
and  observation  of  the  ways  of  God  to  man.  In  the 
first  ages  of  the  world  there  was  no  experience  of  the 
course  of  Providence,  by  which  God  now  speaks  to 
us  m  a  most  intelligible  language ;  reason  was  feeble, 
and  the  principles  of  morality  and  religion  had  not 
been  developed  and  enforced  as  they  have  since  been. 
Men  stood  much  more  in  need  of  direct  instruction 
than  now,  and  what  is  there  irrational  in  the  supposi- 
tion that  it  should  be  given  them  from  time  to  time  ? 

Doubtless  visions,  and  dreams,  and  personal  inter- 
course with  the  Deity  are  things  that  may  be,  and  often 
have  been,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  pretended  for  the 
purposes  of  fanaticism  or  selfishness.  But  the  great 
distinction  between  such  fasle  pretences,  and  the  simple 
accounts  given  in  the  Bible  of  divine  interposition  is, 
that  it  is  never  there  spoken  of  in  any  such  connexion 
as  to  show  a  base  or  wrong  object  in  him  to  whom  it 
relates.  If  God  appeared  unto  Abraham,  it  was  to 
counsel  him — "Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect," 
(Gen.  17,  1.)  If  He  spake  to  Moses,  it  was  to  in- 
struct him  how  to  redeem  his  brethren  from  bondage ; 


GENESIS.  33 

or  to  proclaim  a  code  of  morality  and  religion  which  has 
been  a  blessing  to  all  people  who  have  acknowledged 
its  authority  from  the  hour  of  its  promulgation  until 
now ;  w^hich  was  w^iser,  and  better  adapted  to  improve 
human  nature  by  its  requirements,  than  any  thing  which 
has  since  been  devised  as  a  substitute  for  it,  and  which 
rendered  the  jieople  who  were  possessed  of  it  superior, 
in  rehgious  wisdom,  to  nations  w^ho  were  superior  to 
them  in  every  thing  else.  Is  this  a  sort  of  interposi- 
tion unworthy  of  the  Deity  ?  Is  this  to  be  placed  on 
a  level  with  the  visions  of  those  who  have  gained  pow- 
er or  wealth  by  their  dreams,  and  w^ho  have  had  nothing 
but  these  sordid  w^orldly  motives  for  pretending  to  such 
communications,  and  have  produced  no  other  conse- 
quences ?  Clearly  not.  This  is  a  case  in  w^hich  the 
end  and  object  of  the  revelation  is  part,  and  a  most  im- 
portant part,  of  the  evidence  to  prove  it.  If  the  object 
be  good  and  valuable,  it  is  credible  that  supernatural 
means  should  be  used  to  introduce  it.  If  the  end  be 
unworthy,  insignificant  or  selfish,  it  is  incredible. 

But  if  this  reasoning  be  not  satisfactory,  there  is 
another  solution  of  the  difficulty,  which,  whether  the 
former  be  just  or  not,  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  ;  and 
that  is,  that  the  expression,  "  God  appeared,"  or 
"  God  spake  "  is  not  necessarily,  nor  even  properly, 
to  be  interpreted  literally.  It  is,  of  course,  a  figure  of 
speech ;  and  may  be  understood  with  such  latitude  as 
is  required  by  the  considerations  suggested  in  the  out- 
set, from  the  Oriental  and  highly  figurative  style  of  the 
composition. 

There  are  other  difficulties  of  phraseology  in  this 


36  GENESIS. 

book,  such  as  the  expression,  **  The  sons  of  God  saw 
"  the  daughters  of  men,  that  they  were  fair ;"  &c. 
(Gen.  6,  1)  and  the  phrase  "  And  Jacob  went  on  his 
"  way,  and  the  angels  of  God  met  him,"  (Gen.  32,  1) 
but  as  these  difficulties  arise,  probably,  for  the  most 
part,  from  the  imperfect  acquaintance  of  scholars  with 
the  Hebrew,  the  most  ancient,  terse  and  simple  of  lan- 
guages, it  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  give  clear  and  satis- 
factory explanations  of  what  learned  men  have  not 
elucidated. 

The  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Hebrew  nation  from 
Abraham,  through  Isaac,  Jacob  and  his  sons,  with  the 
very  interesting  and  beautiful  story  of  Joseph,  one  of 
those  sons,  closes  the  book  of  Genesis,  and  brings  the 
history  down  to  the  time  of  the  author. 


EXODUS,  37 


CHAPTER  III.   EXODUS. 


Exodus,  or  the  Departure,  gives  an  account  of  one 
t)f  the  most  stupendous  enterprises  ever  undertaken ; 
one  of  which  the  accomplishment  has  never  been  re- 
garded, as  it  seems  to  me,  with  any  thing  hke  the 
Tidmiration  it  deserves.  It  is  difficiiU  to  represent  to 
one's  self  precisely,  the  position  of  the  parties  in  this 
narrative ;  and  the  extreme  brevity  and  simplicity  of 
the  history  Iras  given  rise  to  many  objections  and  cavils 
which  will  vanish  before  a  full  and  fair  consideration  of 
the  subject,  and  which  in  fact  arise  only  from  a  general 
feehng  of  incredulity  in  respect  to  any  thing  extraor- 
dinary. 

With  regard  to  that  whole  class  of  objections  drawn 
from  the  language  of  Moses  respecting  the  intercourse 
of  the  Deity  with  him,  such  as,  "  God  spake  to  Mo- 
*'  ses,''  and  "  the  Lord  hardened  the  heart  of  Pha- 
*'  raoh,"  &c.,  enough  has  already  been  said  to  show 
that  they  present  no  real  difficulty  ;  that  they  are  figures 
of  speech,  which  by  no  means  necessarily  imply  a 
supernatural  occurrence,  or  influence,  but  may  often 
be  taken  as  the  Oriental  language  for  what  would  be 
expressed  more  simply  in  our  Western  idiom.  Other 
objections  have  been  made  to  the  miracles  which  were 
the  evidence  of  the  divine  mission  of  Moses  to  Pha- 
raoh and  the  Israelites,  as  either  incredible  in  them- 
selves, trifling  in  their  character,  or  showing  a  vindic- 
tive and  cruel  spirit  in  the  Being  by  whose  omnipotence 


38  EXODUS. 

they  were  wrought.  I  shall  give  such  replies  as  occur 
to  me  to  these  cavils,  which  do  not  appear  to  me  of  so 
much  weight  as  they  have  sometimes  been  thought  to 
possess. 

I  suppose  nobody  will  dispute  or  doubt  the  fact  that 
the  Israelites  were  redeemed  from  bondage  to  the 
Egyptians  ;  a  slavery  which  had  endured  for  nearly 
four  hundred  years ;  nor  that  this  was  effected  through 
the  agency  of  Moses.  Now,  this  single  fact  seems  to 
me  more  astonishing,  and  indeed  incredible,  without 
some  supernatural  interference,  than  any  recorded  mir- 
acle ;  and  I  think  it  will  appear  so  to  any  one  who 
reflects  upon  the  relative  position  of  the  two  nations, 
and  the  influences  under  which  they  would  naturally 
act.  On  the  one  hand  was  a  nation  of  slaves,  degraded 
by  ages  of  the  most  abject  servitude,  timid,  ignorant, 
and  unarmed ;  on  the  other  a  rich,  powerful,  warlike, 
and  for  the  time,  an  instructed  people,  very  determined 
to  retain  their  property  in  the  Hebrews,  and  possessed 
of  all  the  necessary  means  to  do  so  ;  the  one  party  an 
unorganized  rabble  of  between  two  and  three  millions 
of  people,  the  other  possessing  military  organization, 
power  and  wealth.  It  is  manifest  the  Israehtes  never 
could  have  gone  without  the  consent  of  the  Egyptians, 
and  how  were  they  to  obtain  that  consent  ?  It  was  as 
if  the  slaves  in  our  own  Southern  States  should  all  at 
once  ask  their  masters  to  let  them  go.  What  chance 
of  escape  would  there  be  for  them.?  The  Egyptians 
were  as  superior  to  the  Israelites,  as  the  white  man  of 
Georgia,  or  Louisiana,  is  to  his  negro  slave.  All  the 
power  was   on  one   side ;  all  the  abjectness,  and  the 


EXODUS.  39 

habit  of  subjectioif  on  the  other.  If  any  man  thinks 
that  the  Egyptians  were  hkely  to  let  them  go  for  the 
mere  asking,  and  that  they  would  even  compel  them  to 
go,  at  last,  without  some  supernatural  agency,  he  cer- 
tainly has  so  large  a  faith  that  he  should  not  object  to 
the  credibility  of  miracles.  He  believes  in  the  great- 
est miracle  of  all. 

Again,  how  was  a  nation,  in  the  condition  of  the 
Hebrews,  to  be  sustained,  kept  together,  trained  and 
finally  established  in  independence  ^  It  would  seem  an 
enterprise  too  vast  for  human  resources  alone.  I  be- 
lieve it  to  have  been  so.  I  believe  no  man  could  now 
accomplish  the  somewhat  similar  enterprise  of  collect- 
ing the  negroes  in  the  United  States,  removing  them 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  conducting  them  among  the 
prairies  and  mountains  of  the  West,  and  finally  estab- 
lishing them  in  California,  or  some  part  of  Mexico,  as 
an  independent  repubhc.  Think  of  the  difiiculties 
attending  such  an  undertaking,  and  then  judge  whether 
Moses  could  have  effected  the  hberation  of  the  Israel- 
ites by  human  means  alone. 

If,  then,  it  be  less  incredible  that  miracles  should 
have  been  wrought,  than  that  such  a  revolution  should 
have  been  produced  without  them,  is  there  any  thing 
in  the  character  of  the  miracles  themselves  inconsistent 
with  that  of  the  Being  by  whose  power  they  were  per- 
formed ?  I  cannot  but  think  they  were  perfectly  suited 
to  the  occasion.  It  should  be  recollected  that  they 
must,  of  necessity,  be  miraculous  punishments .  They 
were  not  mere  displays  of  power,  to  prove  a  superhu- 
man agency.     In  that  case,  it  would  have  been  natural 


40  EXODtrs. 

for  a  beneficent  Being  to  have  tSken  means  wMcfo 
would,  at  the  same  time,  have  proved  his  goodness ; 
Hke  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  healed  the  sick, 
fed  the  hungiy,  and  reheved  the  infirm.  But  the  mira- 
cles of  Moses  were,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  of 
a  different  character,  and  cannot  be  complained  of  as 
cruel  and  vindictive,  unless  it  be  shown  that  more  suf- 
fering was  inflicted  than  was  necessary  to  produce  the 
justifiable  end  in  view.  It  would  be  hard  to  make  this 
appear;  for  after  the  worst  had  been  done,  cupidity  so 
far  prevailed  over  fear,  that  the  Egyptians  hastened 
after  their  slaves  with  military  preparation,  and  would 
have  brought  them  back,  at  the  risk  of  suffering  again 
all  the  evils  they  had  borne,  if  they  liad  been  permitted 
to  do  so. 

I  can  imagine  nothing  better  calculated  to  produce 
an  impression  upon  men's  minds,  without  inflicting  any 
intolerable  physical  suffering,  than  the  series  of  mira- 
cles recorded  upon  the  occasion.  They  must  have 
produced  disgust,  and  annoyance,  loss  of  property,  and 
terror,  but  no  such  degree  of  pain,  mental  or  bodily, 
as  to  justify  the  epithets  cruel  and  vindictive ;  and  it 
was  not  till  all  else  had  failed,  till  it  was  manifest  that 
no  permanent  impression  was  made  by  loathsome  or 
destructive  insects,  or  reptiles,  by  loss  of  their  cattle, 
"(a  most  important  part  of  their  property)  by  darkness 
and  storm,  nor  even  by  temporary  personal  suffering, 
that  death  itself  was  invoked,  and  in  one  night  a  tre- 
mendous mortahty  took  place  among  the  Egyptians. 

Another  thing,  which  is  very  striking  in  these  mira- 
cles, is  that  they  are  of  the  kind  which  irresistibly  lead 


EXODUS.  41 

men  to  see  and  acknowledge  the  act  of  God.  If  they 
had  been  beneficent  miracles,  they  might  have  been 
attributed  to  a  hitherto  unknown  degree  of  human  skill ; 
but  pestilence,  and  storm,  and  death  are  produced  by 
causes  altogether  beyond  human  control ;  and  in  all 
ages,  nations,  and  languages,  rude  and  civilized,  wise 
and  unwise,  have  been  regarded  as  proceeding  from  a 
superior  power. 

But  it  is  said  that  the  sufferings  caused  by  these 
miracles  were  inflicted  upon  the  whole  nation,  w^hen  it 
depended  solely  on  the  will  of  Pharaoh,  whether  the 
Israelites  should  go  or  not ;  and  further,  that  God  him- 
self hardened  the  king's  heart,  so  that  even  he  was  not 
responsible  for  the  obstinacy  he  appeared  to  exhibit. 
Without  insisting  upon  the  extreme  frequency  of  that 
use  of  language  called  exaggeration,  a  frequency  ob^ 
servable  in  our  ow^n  calm  Western  idioms,  and  infinitely 
more  so  among  the  excitable  nations  of  the  East,  by 
which  what  is  meant  of  any  considerable  portion  of  a 
people  is  said  of  the  whole,  I  would  suggest  the  prob- 
abihty  that,  substantially,  the  whole  Egyptian  nation 
w^ere  partakers  in  the  guilt  of  the  oppression  practised 
toward  the  Hebrews.  Three  millions  of  people  are 
not  held  in  slavery  by  the  government  alone, 'under 
ordinary  circumstances  ;  and  certainly  if  the  Egyptians 
had  been  generally  willing  to  let  them  go,  it  would  not 
have  been  easy  for  the  government,  despotic  though  it 
might  be,  to  restrain  them. 

As  to  the  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart,  I  can 
scarcely  think  it  necessary  to  explain  what  is  so  clear. 
I  suppose  that  it  is  an  example  of  a  very  common  case 

4* 


42  EXODUS. 

in  human  nature,  when  men  having  escaped  with  impu- 
nity, or  at  least  with  hfe,  from  a  threatened  or  dreaded 
evil,  repent  of  the  tenderness  of  heart  they  had  exhib- 
ited, and  return,  with  returning  health  and  strength,  to 
the  very  course  of  conduct  which  caused  their  suffer- 
ings. I  suppose  Pharaoh's  heart  was  like  other  peo- 
ple's ;  that  he  trembled  at  the  thunder  and  lightning 
and  hail,  and  grew  brave  again  with  the  restored  seren- 
ity of  the  sky.  It  was  by  this  change  of  circumstances 
that  Pharaoh  was  emboldened ;  and  as  God  produced 
the  change.  He  is  said  in  Scripture  language  to  have 
"  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart."  Who,  that  has  watched 
his  own  heart,  has  not  experienced  feelings  very  like 
those  of  Pharaoh  ?  And  who,  that  has  experienced 
them,  ever  thought  that  the  Almighty  was  responsible 
for  our  use  of  the  lessons  He  gives  us  ?  It  is  a  very 
strange  sort  of  justice,  it  seems  to  me,  that  would  ab- 
solve Pharaoh,  and  arraign  God  in  his  stead. 

There  are  two  considerations  which  ought  to  be 
mentioned  in  this  connexion,  to  account  for  what  might 
seem  the  astonishing  blindness  of  Pharaoh.  One 
would  think  a  miracle  conclusive  proof  of  the  interpo- 
sition of  God.  But  Pharaoh  had  never  heard  of 
Jehovah,  except  from  Moses  ;  and  probably,  heathen 
and  idolater  as  he  was,  thought  that  was  only  a  name 
the  Hebrews  had  given  to  their  object  of  worship ;  and 
it  remained  to  be  seen  whether  the  God  of  Israel  or 
the  Gods  of  Egypt  were  the  most  potent.  Especially 
was  he  led  to  hesitate,  when  he  saw  the  miracles  of 
Moses  imitated  by  the  wise  men,  or  rather  the  jugglers 
he  had  about  him.     In  the  East  the  jugglers,  at  this 


EXODUS.  43 

day,  are  wonderfully  skilful,  and  it  seems  to  have  been, 
from  the  earliest  times,  a  favorite  amusement  to  witness 
their  performances.  Every  monarch  of  every  petty 
tribe  has  his  band  of  expert  performers,  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  custom  has  descended  from  the 
very  days  of  Pharaoh.  Even  when,  the  sorcerers  were 
unable  to  imitate  the  miracles  of  Moses,  they  would 
probably  consider  and  represent  him  only  as  a  some- 
what more  skilful  artist  than  themselves ;  and  the  con- 
vincing character  of  the  miracles  would  thus  be,  in  a 
great  measure,  lost  upon  Pharaoh,  from  the  doubt  that 
would  be  thrown  over  them.  It  is  not,  therefore,  sur- 
prising that  it  required  the  most  alarming  mortality 
among  the  Egyptians,  combined  with  the  entire  preser- 
vation of  the  Israehtes,  to  produce  a  real  and  effec- 
tive conviction,  in  the  mind  of  Pharaoh,  that  it  was 
necessary  to  let  the  Hebrews  go. 

When,  at  last,  the  Egyptians  were  satisfied  that 
their  slaves  could  not  be  retained,  they  were  eager  and 
urgent  for  their  departure,  and  it  would  seem,  hurried 
them  away,  with  presents  and  loans  of  valuable  articles. 
The  Hebrews  thus  became  possessed  of  some  degree 
of  wealth  ;  but  they  were  unorganized,  unarmed,  igno- 
rant, cowardly,  and  of  servile  habits.  They  were 
about  to  undertake  a  perilous  journey  to  the  land  of 
their  fathers,  as  they  were  told,  and  although  they  did 
not  know  exactly  how  far  it  might  be,  yet  they  did 
know  that  they  were  quitting  a  land  of  plenty  for  the 
wilderness  ;  that  they  were  leaving  their  means  of  sub- 
sistence to  seek  a  greater  prosperity  in  what  was  to 
them  a  strange  country.     I  can  scarcely  imagine  a 


44  EXODUS. 

position  of  greater  difficulty  than  that  of  Moses,  con- 
sidering it  in  a  worldly  point  of  view  alone ;  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  effected  his  object  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  admiration,  whether  it  were  the  result  of  divine 
or  human  wisdom.  I  cannot,  indeed,  believe  that  any 
human  being,  without  direct  divine  aid,  could  have 
accomplished  what  Moses  did,  but  if  any  one  can  be- 
lieve that,  it  should,  in  no  degree,  lessen  the  high  esti- 
mate that  ought  to  be  placed  upon  his  achievement. 

Having  thus  stated  my  general  conviction  that  divine 
aid  was  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  great 
work,  I  do  not  think  it  important  to  say  precisely  what 
particular  deed,  or  fact,  was  miraculous,  and  what  was 
not.  When  the  limits  of  the  natural  and  supernatural 
are  so  difficult  to  trace,  and  the  language  of  the  narra- 
tive may  be  interpreted  in  either  way,  it  is  quite  as 
well  to  leave  others  to  explain  for  themselves,  as  to 
insist  upon  one's  own  interpretation. 

It  may,  perhaps  be  regarded  as  an  unfortunate  cir" 
cumstance  that  the  language  of  scripture  should  appear 
thus  equivocal,  and  represent  what,  in  many  cases,  are 
natural  circumstances  as  the  act  of  God.  But,  as  I 
have  already  intimated,  I  consider  the  language  of  the 
Bible  as  decidedly  the  most  just  and  philosophical. 
Natural  events,  as  they  are  called,  are  no  less  God's 
doing  than  supernatural  ones.  They  are  only  less  stri- 
king, less  powerful  in  their  effect  upon  our  imagina- 
tions. But  when  they  are  of  a  striking  and  peculiar 
character,  what  impropriety  is  there  in  speaking  of 
them  as  God's  acts  ?  If  the  east  wind  did  cause  the 
waters  of  the  Red  Sea  to  subside,  so  that  the  Israehtes 


EXODUS.  45 

passed  over  the  head  of  that  deep  bay  without  being 
incommoded,  who  made  it  to  blow  ?  And  who,  by 
changing  the  direction  of  the  wind,  brought  back  the 
waters,  and  overwhelmed  the  Egyptians  ?  Was  this 
preservation  of  one  party  and  destruction  of  the  other 
any  less  the  act  of  God,  because  He  used  the  instru- 
mentahty  of  a  natural  cause,  the  wind,  to  effect  it? 
Surely  not.  And  so  of  all  other  interpositions  of  Provi- 
dence recorded  in  the  Bible.  Some  of  them  may  have 
been  produced  through  the  agency  of  nature,  as  it  is 
called,  but  there  are  others  which  are  unequivocally 
miraculous,  and  it  is  no  less  natural,  than  it  is  proper, 
to  speak  of  all  as  the  acts  of  God,  and  to  acknowledge 
His  power,  as  the  disposer  of  events^  in  all  that  happens 
in  the  world. 

The  miracles  of  Moses  in  the  wilderness  are  of  a 
different  character  from  those  which  he  had  performed 
in  Egypt ;  and  are,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  impressive 
and  beneficent  kind,  which  serve  at  once  to  estabhsh 
authority  and  relieve  suffering.  Food  was  provided 
for  the  hungry,  water  for  the  thirsty,  and  the  power  of 
the  Almighty  was  exhibited  to  confirm  the  evidence  of 
His  wisdom  and  beneficence,  and  to  impress  upon  the 
ignorant,  the  thoughtless  and  the  perverse  the  necessity 
of  obedience  to  His  law. 

And  now  I  wish  to  observe,  for  a  moment,  the  char- 
acter of  that  law,  and  compare  it  with  other  systems 
of  morals  and  religion,  which  have  been  prepared  by 
man's  wisdom,  and  sanctioned  by  no  higher  authority 
than  that  derived  from  human  institutions,  or  human  in- 
genuity. 


46  EXODUS. 

Moses  was  the  first,  and  before  the  Christian  era, 
the  only  person,  who  ever  distinctly  taught  the  doctrine 
of  the  immateriahty  of  the  Deity.  And  it  is  to  be 
particularly  remarked  that  he  taught  it  in  the  midst  and 
in  spite  of  the  universal  prevalence  of  idolatry  in  the 
East.  However  strange  it  may  seem  to  us,  that  men 
should  worship  the  work  of  their  own  hands,  yet  noth- 
ing is  more  certain  than  that  it  has  been  the  most  com- 
mon result  of  the  unenlightened  religious  principle. 
Men  must  worship  something ;  and  when  not  better 
instructed,  it  seems  to  be  a  natural  impulse  to  worship 
an  image,  either  of  man  himself,  or  of  some  other  crea- 
ture, or  natural  object,  by  which  man  is  greatly  bene- 
fitted. It  is  very  difficult  to  prevent  those  who  have 
been  taught  the  doctrines  and  principles  of  Christianity 
from  falling  back  to  the  worship  of  images  and  pictures  ; 
and  all  Catholic  Europe  is  filled  with  paintings  and 
statues  that  are  deemed  to  have  peculiar  sanctity  and 
power,  and  are  worshipped  as  much  as  the  idols  of 
Egypt,  or  Canaan,  or  Hindostan,  or  China.  Even 
Moses  himself,  the  first  authorized  teacher  of  God's 
immateriahty,  could  not  altogether  divest  himself  of  the 
persuasion  that  God  must  have  a  form ;  for  on  one 
occasion  he  besought  Jehovah  to  "  show  him  His 
"glory,"  i.  e.  His  person.  The  ingenuousness  of  this 
confession  is  at  once  honorable  to  the  integrity  of  Mo- 
ses, and  the  most  convincing  proof  that  he  could  not 
have  invented,  or  by  his  own  wisdom  have  discovered 
the  doctrine  of  an  immaterial  and  omnipresent  Deity. 
Observe  too,  in  confirmation  of  this  assertion,  the  won- 
derful  beauty  and   perfection   of  the   representations 


EXODUS.  47 

which  Moses  gives  of  the  appearances  and  words  of 
Jehovah.  In  his  first  interview  he  saw  a  light,  and 
heard  a  voice,  but  discerned  no  figure.  He  was  alone, 
in  the  open  field.  The  tricks  of  impostors  are  per- 
formed before  crowds,  in  darkened  buildings,  and  with 
mystery  and  preparation.  But  how  simple,  unaffected, 
and  on  the  supposition  of  its  truth,  how  natural  is  the 
account ! 

The  customary  token  of  respect  among  the  Eastern 
nations  is  taking  off  the  shoes  ;  and  that  Moses  should 
have  omitted  this,  and  should  have  been  required  to  do 
it,  is  a  proof  of  the  unexpected  nature  of  the  call,  of 
the  natural  confusion  of  surprise,  and  of  the  ignorance 
of  Moses  of  what  was  to  follow.  Did  he  invent  this 
circumstance  afterwards,  and  insert  it  in  his  narrative  to 
give  an  air  of  naturalness  to  it  ?  He  would  have  been 
much  more  likely,  if  he  had  been  making  up  a  cunning 
falsehood,  to  have  represented  himself  either  as  familiar 
with  the  Deity,  as  other  fabricators  have  done,  or  else  as 
instantly  impressed  and  overpowered  with  a  sense  of  the 
divine  presence,  and  rendering,  of  himself,  the  homage 
called  for  by  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  I  look 
upon  that  little  circumstance  as  one  of  the  happiest  pos- 
sible proofs  of  the  truth  and  perfect  honesty  of  Moses. 
But,  if  he  had  invented  it,  I  confess  it  seems  to  me  im- 
possible that  he,  or  any  other  mortal,  in  like  circum- 
stances, could  have  invented  what  follows.  Moses  asks 
by  what  name  he  shall  designate  the  being  who  sends 
him  to  his  countrymen,  and  the  sublimest  words  are 
uttered,  in  reply,  that  have  ever  been  recorded  :  '^  Thus 


48  EXODUS. 

*^  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  I  AM  hath 
'^  sent  me  unto  you." 

God  is  the  only  being  whose  existence  always  has 
been,  and  always  will  be  present.  God  is.  And  this 
was  true  before  aught  was  created,  and  will  be  true 
though  all  else  should  perish.  There  is  no  other  being 
who,  at  any  point  of  measured,  or  unmeasured  time, 
can  still  say,  I  AM.  No  other  words  can  convey  this 
idea  so  briefly,  so  perfectly,  so  sublimely.  AVas  it  an 
invention  of  man  ?  Was  this  devised  by  one  who  was 
surrounded  by  idolaters,  and  had  never  heard  the  name 
of  Jehovah  ?  If  it  were,  it  was  as  much  a  miracle  as 
if  God  indeed  spake  to  Moses,  and  it  is  immaterial 
wliether  it  be  regarded  in  one  way  or  the  other. 

Moses  was  also  the  first  who  taught  distinctly  the  unity 
of  God.  "Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one 
"  Lord."  Polytheism  had  been,  and  to  this  day  con- 
tinues to  be,  the  inseparable  companion  of  idolatry,  and 
adds  to  the  absurdities  from  which  the  Israelites  were 
delivered  by  their  inspired  lawgiver.  It  seems  to  be, 
in  some  sort,  the  natural  tendency  of  the  human  mind, 
at  least  in  weak  and  ignorant  individuals,  to  believe  in  a 
plurality  of  superhuman  beings  who  have  power  over 
the  conduct  and  the  destiny  of  men  ;  witness  the  fabled 
deities  of  heathenism  in  all  ages  ;  the  legions  of  patron 
saints  of  the  Catholic  church  ;  the  belief  in  demons  still 
prevalent  in  the  reformed  churches,  and  the  extreme 
difficulty  with  which  even  enlightened  persons  renounce 
the  belief  of  the  influence  of  Satan,  Beelzebub,  or 
whatever  the  principle  of  evil  may  be  called.     The 


EXODUS.  49 

doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  by  which  the  divine  essence  is 
divided  into  three  persons,  with  different  characteristics, 
is  an  exempHfication  of  the  same  tendency  of  human 
nature.  The  apphcation  of  the  word  person,  at  all,  to 
Him  who  fills  all  space,  is  a  mere  specimen  of  the  im- 
perfection of  human  ideas  and  language,  and  is  never 
applied  to  God  in  the  scriptures.  He  is  there  spoken 
of  as  a  being,  not  as  a  person  having  a  definite  form  ; 
and  it  would  be  well,  in  all  cases,  to  use  the  scriptural 
mode  of  speech  in  relation  to  Him.  The  immateriality 
and  unlimited  presence  of  the  Deity  are  quite  as  im- 
portant attributes  as  any  that  must  be  ascribed  to  Him. 

Against  the  tendency  of  human  nature,  exhibited  in 
his  day  by  the  universality  of  the  opposite  doctrine,  and 
ever  since,  by  its  prevalence  over  by  far  the  greatest 
part  of  the  globe,  Moses  taught  the  unity  of  the  Deity. 
What  shall  we  say  of  this  ?  Is  it  human  wisdom,  or 
divine  inspiration  ?  ''  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out 
"God?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  per- 
"  fection  ?"  If  so,  why  was  he  not  found  out  by  others 
beside  Moses  ?  The  inference  is  irresistible  that  the 
wisdom  of  INIoses  was  more  directly  inspired  than  that 
of  other  men, — that  he  had  what  he  professed  to  have, 
authority  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Jehovah. 

The  omnipotence  and  omniscience  of  God  are  the 
deductions  of  reason  from  His  power  of  creating  and 
sustaining  the  universe  around  us.  He  was  proclaimed 
by  Moses,  and  by  him  alone,  as  the  Creator  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth. 

The  moral  perfections  of  God,  His  justice  and  mer- 
cy, are  every  where  spoken  of,  are  reiterated  with  ear- 


50  EXODUS. 

nestness  in  every  part  of  the  writings  of  Moses,  and  are 
taught  no  where  else  but  in  the  Hebrew  and  Christian 
Scriptures,  and  in  writings  the  spirit  of  which  is  de- 
rived from  them. 

Another  distinction  between  the  law  given  by  Moses, 
and  those  systems  which  rest  on  merely  human  wisdom 
for  their  authority,  is  the  control  which  is  prescribed 
by  it  over  the  mind,  the  source  of  actions  good  or  evil. 
There  are  two  of  the  ten  commandments  which  have 
especial  reference  to  the  dispositions  of  the  heart,  and 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  Mosaic  dispensation ;  or 
rather,  which  distinguish  it  from  all  heathen  rules  of 
morals  and  religion,  the  fifth  and  the  tenth.  And  I 
wish  you  to  observe  the  relative  position  of  these  com- 
mandments, and  their  beautiful  reference  to  those  which 
immediately  precede  them. 

The  first  four  commandments  prescribe  the  reverence 
which  is  due  to  God,  the  creator  of  all  things,  and  the 
father  of  all  that  he  has  made,  and  which  is  due  to  the 
day  which  is  sanctified  to  Him,  to  the  contemplation 
and  worship  of  His  perfections.  We  are  then  enjoined 
to  honor  our  father  and  mother ;  not  merely  to  obey, 
and  do  them  outward  reverence,  but  to  honor  them,  to 
feel  in  our  hearts  that  respect  which  will  make  obedi- 
ence easy,  and  all  outward  demonstrations  of  regard 
natural.  He  who  cultivates  this  feeling  towards  his 
earthly  parents,  will  scarcely  fail  to  acquire  it,  in  a  still 
higher  degree,  towards  his  heavenly  father,  who  sustains 
the  same  relation  to  parent  and  child.  The  next  four 
commandments  prescribe  rules  for  our  intercourse  with 
our  fellow  men,  and  are  followed  by  one  enjoining  that 


EXODUS.  61 

disposition  of  heart  which  will  ensure  obedience  to  the 
others.  He  who  covets  not,  will  neither  commit  mur- 
der nor  adultery,  will  neither  lie  nor  steal.  Other  law- 
givers have  thought  it  enough  to  forbid,  under  certain 
penalties,  actual  transgression ;  but  Moses  requires  the 
heart  to  be  under  control,  and  to  be  kept  pure,  in  order 
that  the  actions  and  the  life  may  be  so  in  truth.  Who 
taught  him  this  better  knowledge }  Surely,  He  only 
who  made  the  heart,  and  gave  man  power  over  himself. 

The  institution  of  the  Sabbath  is  another  of  those 
evidences  of  wisdom,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  which  is  peculiar  to  the  law  of  Moses.  Accus- 
tomed as  we  are,  in  this  country,  to  the  religious  ob- 
servance of  one  day  in  seven,  it  is  difficult  to  appreciate 
the  influence  of  that  observance.  It  is  quiet,  unobtru- 
sive, constant  and  cumulative.  The  habits  of  one  gen- 
eration form  the  character  of  the  next,  and  it  is  only  by 
a  sudden  reversal,  or  change  of  such  a  habit,  that  we 
can  discover  what  and  how  much  to  attribute  to  its  in- 
fluence. Of  one  thing,  however,  we  cannot  fail  to  be 
sure,  viz :  that  the  effect  of  the  Sabbath,  as  a  day  of 
rest  from  labor,  and  of  rehgious  and  intellectual  reflec- 
tion, is  good,  greatly  good ;  and  that  the  loss  of  such 
opportunities  would  be  productive  of  injury,  of  which, 
though  the  amount  may  not  be  weighed  with  accuracy, 
yet  the  character  cannot  be  doubted. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  seventh  day  w^as  a  day 
of  rest,  before  the  time  of  Moses,  nor  among  any  other 
people  than  the  Hebrews  in  all  antiquity.  Was  it  by 
mere  accident,  or  by  careful  reflection,  or  by  divine 
authority,  that  he  devised  an  institution  so  exactly  and 


52  EXODUS. 

admirably  adapted  to  the  wants  of  man,  to  his  improve- 
ment in  all  stages  of  moral  and  intellectual  and  religious 
progress,  and  at  the  same  time  to  the  necessities  and 
the  convenience  of  his  physical  nature  ? 

The  promulgation  of  a  code  of  moral  law  at  all  is  a 
most  striking  and  peculiar  circumstance.  Where  else, 
in  the  history  of  antiquity,  is  it  to  be  found  ?  What 
man  ever  devised  a  system,  or  assumed  the  authority  to 
proclaim  it  to  bis  nation  as  of  binding  power  ?  Wise 
men  have  stated,  sometimes,  the  results  of  their  reflec- 
tion in  the  form  of  rules  of  conduct ;  but  one  or  two  of 
these  only  are  ascribed  to  an  individual.  There  is 
nothing  like  a  system  recorded  any  where  as  the  produc- 
tion of  one  man  ;  and  Moses  alone,  of  all  the  great  men 
whose  names  are  handed  down  to  us,  ventured  to  call 
his  rules  a  law.  What  gave  him,  a  modest,  retiring 
man,  of  no  commanding  presence  or  eloquence,  such 
confidence  in  himself?  And  still  more,  what  enabled 
him  to  effect  his  object,  and  to  give  his  law  the  sanction 
of  divine  authority  ?  Nothing,  it  seems  to  me,  can  ac- 
count for  the  successful  establishment  of  this  system,  in 
opposition  to  all  the  tendencies  of  the  age,  and  of  all 
previous  ages  of  the  world,  and  in  most  direct  and 
pointed  opposition  to  the  vices  which  are  especially 
likely  to  beset  an  enslaved  and  oppressed  people,  but 
the  substantial  truth  of  the  assertion  that  "  God  spake 
'*  these  words." 

Another  circumstance,  which  marks  the  difference 
between  a  divine  and  a  human  law,  is  that,  in  the  latter, 
the  sanctions  are  all  of  a  specific  and  determinate  char- 
acter.    For  a  violation  of  a  given  law  there  is  a  pre- 


EXODUS.  53 

scribed  and  definite  punishment ;  the  only  discretionary- 
power  being  with  the  judge,  to  increase  or  diminish  its 
severity  within  certain  hmits,  according  to  the  aggra- 
vation of  the  offence.  But  it  is  not  so  with  the  moral 
law  of  Moses.  Not  a  punishment  is  hinted  at.  It  is 
deemed  enough  to  know  that  God  has  given  the  rule. 
He  has  always  the  means  of  enforcing  it.  And  it  is 
one  of  the  striking  peculiarities  of  this  dispensation  that 
the  omniscience  and  omnipotence  of  Him  who  spake 
from  Sinai's  awful  mount  are  appealed  to  as  the  suffi- 
cient sanction  of  its  paramount  authority.  The  true 
character  of  the  Deity  is  thus  implied  throughout ;  and 
it  is  the  only  religious  system  existing,  or  which  has 
ever  existed,  in  the  w^orld,  of  which  this  can  be  said. 
Christianity,  of  course,  goes  side  by  side  with  it  in  this 
respect. 

Now  what  is  the  inference  from  this  ?  Is  it  not  that 
unassisted  human  reason  is  insufficient  for  these  things  } 
If  not,  why  have  not  other  wise  men,  with  whom  every 
nation  has  abounded,  made  some  approach  towards 
similar  discoveries  ?  Why  was  it  reserved  for  a  na- 
tion, and  an  individual  who,  in  no  other  respect,  aj)pear 
to  have  been  beyond  their  age  in  knowledge  or  wis- 
dom ? 

I  know  not  how  these  considerations  may  affect 
others,  but  to  my  own  mind  they  have  a  weight  which 
there  is  nothing  to  counterbalance.  I  rest,  therefore, 
with  firmness  in  the  conviction,  which  I  hope  may  be 
produced  in  you,  that  Moses  was  divinely  commissioned 
to  estabhsh,  among  his  people,  the  knowledge  and  wor- 
ship of  the  only  Hving  and  true  God,  whom  to  know 
and  to  obey  is  life  eternal. 

5* 


54  THE    CEREMONIAL    LAW. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    CEREMONIAL    LAW.       THE    INVASION    OF 

CANAAN. 

Besides  the  law  of  the  Ten  Commandments  Moses 
promulgated  two  other  codes,  mtended  particularly  for 
the  government  and  the  distinction  of  his  own  people. 
These  were  the  police  law,  as  it  may  be  called,  pre- 
scribing fixed  punishments  for  certain  offences,  and  the 
ceremonial  law,  with  which  the  remainder  of  the  book 
of  Exodus,  and  the  whole  of  the  book  of  Leviticus  are 
filled. 

It  has  often  been  objected  to  these  systems  that  the 
one  w^as  unnecessarily  severe,  and  even  cruel,  and  the 
other  excessively  burdensome.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  these  objections  are  made  without  due  considera- 
tion of  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the  Hebrews. 
Systems  should  be  judged  by  their  suitableness,  or  un- 
fitness, for  the  people  for  whom  they  are  prepared ; 
and  not  by  an  abstract  standard,  or  by  their  adaptation, 
or  want  of  it,  to  a  totally  different  state  of  society. 
That  which  might  be  cruelty  in  one  case  is  only  rea- 
sonable caution  in  another ;  and  that  which  would  be 
burdensome  and  odious  to  one  people  may  be  par- 
ticularly pleasing  and  useful  to  another.  Certain  it 
is  that  the  Jews  themselves  never  complained  of  the 
severity  or  troublesomeness  of  the  laws  of  Moses  ;  and 


THE    CEREMONIAL    LAW.  65 

it  is  clear  that  the  necessity  of  constant  attention  to  the 
prescribed  rites,  and  splendid  ceremonies,  of  their  re- 
ligion, kept  alive  in  them  the  memory  of  the  better 
things,  the  admirable  precepts  and  doctrines  every 
where  appearing  throughout  the  vi^hole  series  of  the 
works  of  Moses.  Undoubtedly  it  was  necessary,  in 
the  rude  condition  of  the  Israelites,  that  the  laws,  by 
which  their  intercourse  with  one  another  was  governed, 
should  be  of  some  severity,  as  it  would  be  accounted 
among  more  refined  and  delicate  nations  ;  and  unques- 
tionably, also,  the  estabhshment  of  an  imposing  ritual 
was  essential  to  their  preserving  any  vestige  of  the 
doctrine  and  worship  they  were  selected  by  God  to 
maintain.  Notwithstanding  all  the  pains  taken  with 
them,  they  frequently  relapsed  into  an  absurd  idolatry, 
and  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  they  should  ever 
have  been  reclaimed  from  it,  but  for  the  wise  severity 
of  their  inspired  lawgiver,  and  the  judicious  ceremonial 
he  imposed  on  them. 

Many  things,  moreover,  appear  in  this  age  of  the 
world,  of  a  harsh  character,  which  were  then  a  great 
improvement  on  the  usages  of  contemporary  nations. 
A  very  striking  instance  of  this  is  the  regulations  which 
were  made  by  the  law  of  Moses  respecting  the  "  aven- 
"  ger  of  blood,"  and  the  "cities  of  refuge."  Lev. 
25.  By  these  rules  the  revengeful  practices  of  other 
nations,  and  of  the  Jews  themselves,  were  very  much 
mitigated  and  restrained ;  and  harsh  as  they  seem  now, 
they  were,  in  fact,  a  very  wise  provision  on  the  side  of 
mercy.  The  law  of  kindness  and  benevolence  per- 
vades the  whole  of  the  writings  of  Moses,  descending 


56  THE    CEREMONIAL    LAW. 

to  the  care  even  of  the  inferior  animals ;  and  it  is  very 
probable  that  if  we  possessed  a  little  more  knowledge 
of  the  practices  of  other  nations  of  those  days,  we 
should  perceive  the  better  provisions  of  the  law  of 
Moses  in  many  points. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  as  it  has  been  asked  with  a 
sneering  and  triumphant  assurance,  if  this  law  has 
divine  authority,  why  was  it  not  perfect  at  once  ?  Why 
talk  of  improvements  upon  former  practices  merely, 
when  God  might  have  given  a  perfect  rule  ? 

In  reply,  I  would  ask  the  man  who  knows  the  con- 
stitution of  human  nature,  whether  a  perfect  rule,  if 
promulgated,  would  have  been  likely  to  have  produced 
a  better  or  greater  effect,  whether  it  would  have  pro- 
duced so  great  an  effect,  as  one  which  was  but  a  little 
in  advance  of  the  actual  condition  of  men  ?  Mankind 
must  be  led  on  by  easy  stages  in  the  path  of  improve- 
ment ;  and  rules  which  may  be  abstractly  perfect  (if 
such  a  phrase  be  admissible)  will  often  be  laid  aside, 
and  totally  disregarded,  when  one,  only  better  than 
those  previously  in  authority,  would  have  led  to  a 
decided  and  acknowledged  reform.  This  too  is  the 
general,  almost  the  uniform  course  of  Providence,  who 
produces  changes  gradually  when  it  is  intended  they 
shall  be  permanent,  and  of  wise  men,  who  seek  to  imi- 
tate the  course  of  the  Omniscient,  so  far  as  is  possible. 

The  next  book.  Numbers,  brings  the  history  down 
to  the  eve  of  the  invasion  of  Canaan  by  the  Israehtes, 
and  contains  an  account  of  the  military  force  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  nation,  and  several  changes  in  the  code  of 
civil  and  ceremonial  law.     Some  new  provisions  are  also 


THE    CEREMONIAL    LAW.  67 

introduced,  and  many  rules  are  ^iven,  to  take  effect  after 
their  settlement  in  the  land  of  which  they  were  going 
to  take  possession.  A  hst  of  the  various  journeys,  and 
places  of  encampment,  for  the  forty  years  since  the 
departure  from  Egypt,  is  put  on  record,  and  every 
thing  is  as  definitely  arranged  as  possible  for  the  con- 
templated invasion. 

There  is  nothing  more  striking  in  this  part  of  the 
history,  than  the  internal  evidence  of  hs  having  been 
written  at  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of  the  circum- 
stances recorded,  the  wisdom  of  the  preparations  for 
the  great  event  about  to  take  place,  and  the  manifest 
change  in  the  character  of  the  people.  They  were  no 
longer  the  timid  slaves  escaping  from  masters,  the  dread 
of  whom  alone  was  worse  than  the  dangers  they  antici- 
pated, and  fleeing  from  every  little  tribe  of  enemies 
that  chose  to  attack  them.  A  new  generation  had 
arisen  that  knew  not  Pharaoh,  and  that  had  acquired  in 
the  wandering,  and  probably  pastoral,  hfe  which  they 
led  in  the  otherwise  thinly  inhabited  regions  they  had 
passed  through,  the  strength  of  mind  and  body,  the 
boldness  and  the  discipline  essential  to  the  success  of 
the  national  enterprise. 

The  character  of  this  enterprise  itself  has  been  made 
a  ground  of  objection  to  the  claim  of  Moses  to  divine 
authority.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  it  is  said,  that 
God  would  sanction  the  unwarrantable  expulsion  of 
divers  nations  from  their  homes,  nor  the  various  cruel- 
ties which  were  practised  upon  their  enemies  by  the 
Israehtes.  Here,  again,  is  an  instance  of  the  impro- 
priety of  judging  of  that  which  took  place  under  certain 


58  THE    INVASION    OF    CANAAN. 

circumstances,  by  rules  which  are  apph cable  only  to 
others.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  Israelites  practised 
any  degree  of  cruelty  which  was  unusual  in  their  day, 
whatever  might  be  thought  of  some  of  their  acts  at 
present ;  and  unless  they  had  conducted  the  war  in  the 
manner,  and  with  the  degree  of  rigor,  expected  by 
their  enemies,  and  practised  by  them,  the  Israelites 
would  have  been  exposed  to  the  consequences  of  im- 
puted weakness,  the  courage  of  their  opponents  would 
have  been  roused  to  bolder  action,  and  it  would  prob- 
ably have  required  still  greater  severity  to  subdue 
them. 

The  only  reasonable  question,  then,  is  whether  the 
war,  by  which  they  possessed  themselves  of  Canaan, 
was  justifiable  in  its  origin.  In  the  absence  of  all  his- 
tory of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  we  are  left  very 
much  to  conjecture,  or  rather  a  judgment  of  probabili- 
ties, in  relation  to  many  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
case.  And,  first,  I  cannot  but  consider  it  very  prob- 
able that  the  claim  of  the  descendants  of  Abraham  to 
the  territory  in  question,  was  known,  if  not  acknow- 
ledged, by  the  people  of  that  and  the  adjoining  coun- 
tries. It  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  known  in  Egypt, 
where  it  would  naturally  be  spoken  of  with  the  deepest 
interest  by  both  parties,  the  master  and  the  slave. 
And  it  is  clear  that  when  Moses  asked  permission  for 
the  Israehtes  to  depart  three  days'  journey  into  the 
wilderness,  it  was  perfectly  understood  by  the  Egyp- 
tians that  they  were  not  to  return.  Else,  why  their 
reluctance  to  let  them  go  ? 

It  is  so  obviously  impossible  for  three  millions  of 


THE  INVASION  OF  CANAAN.  69 

people  to  wander  in  thinly  inhabited  regions,  without 
being  heard  of  by  the  neighboring  nations,  that  it  seems 
scarcely  necessary  to  adduce  evidence  that  such  was 
the  fact.  But  in  the  second  chapter  of  Joshua,  Rahab, 
an  inhabitant  of  Jericho,  is  stated  to  have  said  that  the 
history  of  the  Israelites  was  well  known,  from  the  time 
they  left  Egypt,  and  that  the  fear  of  them  had  fallen 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  land.  These  people  had, 
therefore,  abundant  w^arning  of  the  approaching  inva- 
sion, and  were,  doubtless,  informed  of  the  ground  as- 
sumed by  the  Israelites  to  justify  it.  As  we  never  hear 
of  this  claim  to  the  inheritance  of  the  country  being 
disputed,  it  is  no  unfair  inference  that  it  was  not  de- 
nied,  and  was  admitted  to  convey  a  legitimate  title.  I 
think,  at  least,  it  is  very  strange,  if  the  claim  were  con- 
sidered unreasonable,  that  nothing  of  the  sort  is  record- 
ed as  having  been  said  by  the  Canaanites.  If  they 
chose  to  resist  such  a  claim,  sustained  by  such  a  power, 
neither  they,  nor  others  for  them,  can  complain  of  in- 
justice. 

But  besides,  this  is  a  case  to  which,  in  my  judg- 
ment, the  principles,  of  which  I  spoke  in  the  beginning, 
apply.  Does  it  follow,  that  because  it  appears  wrong 
to  one  who  sees  its  bearings  very  imperfectly,  it  really 
was  wrong  ?  Shall  we  set  ourselves  up  to  judge  the 
Almighty  ?  Even  if  we  presume  so  far,  why  select 
this  instance  in  particular  ?  How  does  the  case  differ 
from  that  of  other  conquests  seemingly  unjust  ^ 

Let  us  not  forget  that  God  has  infinite  resources  to 
compensate  in  every  individual  case,  for  any  apparent, 
or  even  real,  injury ;  and  that  we  are  totally  unable  to 


60  THE    INVASION    OF    CANAAN. 

determine  that  such  or  such  an  event  ought  not  to  have 
been  permitted.  On  the  other  hand,  we  can  very  often 
see  the  retributive  justice  which  orders  circumstances 
in  such  a  way  as  to  punish  the  guilty,  reward  the  right- 
eous, and  demonstrate  the  equity  of  the  Creator.  Thus 
we  have  the  ground  of  a  reasonable  presumption  that, 
in  cases  where  the  proof  is  less  clear,  the  difficulty  Hes 
in  our  powers  of  perception,  rather  than  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  Deity. 

The  story  of  Balaam,  which  is  told  in  this  book, 
throws  some  light  on  the  subject ;   and  proves  conclu- 
sively the  extent  of  the  reputation  which  had  preceded 
the  Israelites,  for  their  numbers,  their  power,  and  the 
divine   protection    afforded    to    them.       Balaam   was, 
doubtless,  an  impostor ;   but  his  admissions  in  this  in- 
stance,   are    good    evidence    of   the    facts    to    which 
he  alludes.     ''God  brought  them  out  of  Egypt,"  he 
says  ;    and  if  this   event,   which  had  happened  forty 
years   before,   were   commonly  known,   why  not   the 
other  circumstances    of  their    extraordinary    history? 
And  how  could  the  Canaanites  have  been  ignorant  of 
the  claims  of  this  formidable  people  to  their  territory  ? 
If  they  saw  fit  to  resist  such  a  claim,  of  which  they  did 
not  deny  the  vahdity,  and  which  was  supported  by  so 
obvious  a  display  of  power,  both  human  and  divine, 
they  surely  should  submit  to  the  consequences  without 
complaint.      There  is  also  abundant  reason  to  believe 
that  the  sins  of  these  nations  were  righteously  punished 
by  the   calamities   which   overtook  them  ;     and   thus, 
again,  the  providential  justice  of  God  would  be  fully 
vindicated. 


INVASION    OF    CANAAN.  61 

The  conduct  of  this  invasion,  however  was  not  en- 
trusted to  Moses.  His  great  age,  as  well  as  the  char- 
acter of  his  mind,  w^hich,  though  in  the  highest  degree 
vigorous,  was  not  of  a  mihtary  turn,  and  all  his  habits  of 
life,  arising  from  early  education,  and  later  experience, 
rendered  him  less  fit  for  this  portion  of  the  mighty  en- 
terprise than  a  man  who,  having  grown  up  under  differ- 
ent circumstances,  had  not  yet  passed  the  prime  of  life. 
Joshua  was  therefore  selected  to  be  the  commander  of 
the  military  force  of  the  nation,  and  the  general  leader 
of  the  people  in  all  respects,  in  short,  to  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  Moses. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  book,  we  are  told  of  his 
appointment  and  separation  to  the  office,  with  some  de- 
gree of  ceremony  ;  and  upon  him  afterwards  devolved 
the  direction,  not  merely  of  military  affairs,  to  which 
he  was  already  somewhat  accustomed,  but  of  those 
miscellaneous  matters  in  which  Moses  had  heretofore 
been  the  guide  and  governor. 

Before  resigning  his  office,  however,  Moses  wrote 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  or  the  repetition  of  the 
Law,  in  which  the  most  important  points  both  of  the 
law,  and  of  the  national  history  are  briefly  recapitulat- 
ed. It  contains,  also,  the  most  earnest  exhortations 
to  obedience,  the  most  eloquent  expositions  of  the 
penalties  of  disobedience,  and  advantages  of  fidehty  to 
the  law  of  God,  and  concludes  wdth  a  strain  of  poetry 
and  a  benediction  worthy  of  the  pecuhar  interest  of  the 
occasion. 


62  CHARACTER  OF  MOSES. 


CHAPTER  V.   CHARACTER  OF  MOSES. 

Having  thus  comi^leted  the  work  that  was  given  him 
to  do,  Moses  ascended  a  moimtainy  and  there  died  in 
sohtary  seckision.  ''No  man  knoweth  of  his  sepul- 
''chre  unto  this  day."  Thus  wisely,  solemnly,  and 
poetically  ended  the  career  of  a  man  whose  memory  is 
destined  never  to  perish,  but  who  must  be  regarded, 
intellectually,  morally  and  politically,  as  one  of  the 
greatest  lights  by  which  God  has  chosen  to  conduct 
men  to  virtue  and  to  true  wisdom. 

Let  us  look  back  a  moment  on  his  life,  and  see  what 
he  effected.  In  the  first  place,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
call  the  revolution,  which  he  produced  in  the  condi- 
tion of  his  countrymen,  the  greatest  on  record,  con- 
sidered merely  pohtically.  What  are  the  triumphs  of 
an  Alexander,  a  Csesar,  or  a  Napoleon,  at  the  head  of 
armies  of  brave  men,  and  contending  with  those  who 
were  confessedly  their  inferiors,  compared  with  the 
deliverance  of  a  nation  of  seemingly  helpless  and  spir- 
itless slaves  from  the  dominion  of  powerful  and  war- 
like masters  ?  What  are  the  conquests  that  glitter  in 
the  eye  for  a  little  while,  and  then  pass  away  and  are 
forgotten,  compared  with  the  permanent  establishment 
of  a  new  nation  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  a  na- 
tion that  could  scarcely  fail  to  produce  great  effects 
not  only  upon  their  neighbors,  but  upon  the  character 
of  the  world  ?  Where  is  the  record  of  any  thing  like 
it  ?     There  have  been  such  things  as  servile  wars,  in- 


CHARACTER    OF    MOSES.  63 

surrections  that  have  termmated,  or  perhaps  begun, 
with  a  general  massacre  of  one  side  or  the  other.  But 
in  the  Hberation  of  the  Israelites  there  was  no  war ; 
there  was  nothing  that,  with  any  propriety,  can  be 
termed  insurrection.  It  was  an  emigration,  not  only 
with  the  consent,  but  at  the  urgent  demand  of  those 
most  interested  to  detain  them.  Who  ever  heard, 
either  before  or  since,  of  the  sudden  migration  of  three 
millions  of  people,  and  those  people  slaves  ?  Who 
ever  heard  of  masters  urging  their  slaves  to  quit  them  ? 
And  when  was  it  known  that  such  slaves  established 
themselves  in  another  land,  and  there  continued  to 
flourish  for  centuries,  as  an  independent  people  ? 

The  adaptation  of  institutions  to  the  character  and 
circumstances  of  the  people  for  whom  they  are  design- 
ed, and  to  the  condition  of  human  nature  in  general,  is 
usually  considered  as  proved  by  their  permanence.  If 
subjected  to  this  test,  there  is  nothing  as  yet  known  in 
history  which  is  equal  in  length  of  duration  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  Moses ;  no  moral  law,  no  religious  truth, 
which  has  produced  so  great  an  effect  upon  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  human  race,  as  the  law  and  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Hebrew  scriptures.  Their  influence  has 
been  extending,  irregularly,  but  certainly,  from  the 
time  of  their  promulgation  until  now ;  and  I  cannot  but 
think  that  if  Christianity  had  never  existed,  the  law  of 
Moses  and  the  truths  which  he  taught  would  still  have 
endured,  to  save  the  world  from  the  absurdities  of  pa- 
ganism and  the  horrors  of  superstition. 

The  follies  of  the  East,  of  China  and   India,  in  re- 
ligion  and   morals,   may   claim,    though   they   cannot 


64  CHARACTER    OF    MOSES. 

prove,  an  antiquity  as  great  as  that  of  the  law  of  Mo- 
ses ;  but  what  is  their  present  condition  ?  Are  they 
not  tottering  to  their  fall  ?  Does  any  one  believe  they 
will  survive  the  attacks  of  the  more  civiUzed  race,  who 
are  now  exerting  so  powerful  a  moral  and  political  in- 
fluence in  those  peculiar  regions  ?  Can  the  absurdities 
of  Chinese  idolatry,  or  the  more  barbarous  supersti- 
tions of  India,  be  propagated  from  age  to  age  among 
other  races  than  those  in  which  they  gradually  arose  ? 
It  is  manifest  that  though  such  monstrous  doctrines 
may  be  fastened  upon  men  in  particular  districts,  under 
the  combined,  progressive,  influence  of  ignorance  and 
early  impressions,  yet  they  cannot  be  considered  as 
adapted  to  the  mental  and  moral  wants  of  the  uni- 
versal human  race.  The  general  intelligence  of  man- 
kind will  revolt  against  such  stupendous  folly. 

But  when  has  the  progress  of  refinement,  or  of  intelli- 
gence, rendered  it  necessary  to  supersede  the  Deca- 
logue, or  to  abrogate  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  ? 
After  more  than  three  thousand  years  of  experience  in 
their  favor,  I  think  we  are  authorised  to  predict  that 
they  never  will  be  supplanted  by  any  thing  better  adap- 
ted to  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  moral  and  religious 
progress.  It  is  to  be  expected  that,  from  time  to  time, 
men  will  arise,  as  they  have  appeared  in  past  ages,  who 
will,  in  the  plenitude  of  their  presumptuous  wisdom, 
speak  with  little  reverence  of  that  which  is  taught  by 
the  Jewish  scriptures,  and  which  they  could  teach  so 
much  better.  But  it  is  equally  to  be  expected  that  such 
vanity  will  meet  with  small  sympathy  in  the  breasts  of 
the  mass  whom  they  address,  and  that  all  future  pre* 


CHARACTER    OF    MOSES.  65 

tensions  of  the  sort  will  fall  into  the  speedy  oblivion 
which  has  overtaken  those   of  the  times  that  are  past. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  in  which  I  wish  to 
present  Moses  to  your  minds,  and  that  is  as  an  author, 
or  writer  of  history,  combined  with  instruction  in 
morals  and  religion.  Recollect  that  his  five  books  are 
the  earliest  work  which  has  come  down  to  us  from 
distant  ages,  and  that  it  is  written  in  a  language  long 
since  disused  as  a  living  tongue,  and  which,  notwith- 
standing the  great  labor  bestowed  upon  it  by  many 
able  scholars,  is  very  imperfectly  understood,  and  you 
can  hardly  fail  to  look  with  astonishment  upon  the 
wisdom,  the  knowledge,  the  acquaintance  with  the  hu- 
man heart,  the  sagacity,  and  the  energy  of  the  WTiter, 
which  cannot  but  be  seen  shining  through  all  the  im- 
perfections of  the  language,  and  of  our  acquaintance 
with  it.  What  a  beautiful  simplicity  !  What  brevity, 
yet  what  completeness  !  Every  thing  which  is  neces- 
sary for  his  purpose  is  told ;  and  nothing  superflu- 
ous, nothing  which  would  be  without  interest  or  value 
to  his  countrymen,  is  inserted.  For  eloquence,  too, 
and  exalted  poetry  there  are  few  works  of  any  age 
which  can  be  compared  with  this. 

It  has  been  said,  to  be  sure,  that  the  discoveries  of 
modern  science  have  overthrown  the  record  of  facts 
as  stated  in  the  beginning  of  Genesis  ;  but,  as  I  observ- 
ed before,  I  think  much  more  has  been  said  on  this 
subject  than  has  been  substantiated.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear, to  my  own  mind,  that  there  is  any  discrepancy 
between  Moses  and  modern  philosophers,  so  far  as  I 
am  acquainted  with  the  facts   discovered,  or  beheved, 

6* 


66  CHARACTER    OF    MOSES. 

by  the  latter.  And  It  is  hardly  possible  there  should 
be  any  material  disagreement.  The  account  of  Moses 
is  given  rather  to  declare  the  substantial,  all  important 
fact  that  "in  the  beginning.  God  created  the  Heaven 
"and  the  earth,"  than  to  explain  the  manner  of  doing 
it,  or  what  is  called  in  modern  times,  the  Theory  of 
the  Earth.  The  main  fact  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  af- 
fected by  scientific  discoveries ;  and  the  less  important 
details,  so  far  from  being  overthrown,  are  in  truth, 
wonderfully  corroborated  by  many  of  the  researches  of 
modern  days.  In  view  of  all  these  things,  it  is  impos- 
sible not  to  ask,  "Whence  had  this  man  this  wisdom 
"and  these  mighty  works?" 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said,  in  reply  to  this  question, 
that  he  obtained  from  the  Egyptians  the  knowledge, 
wisdom,  and  skill  which  he  displayed.  If  this  were  to 
be  admitted,  then  it  must  also  be  admitted,  that  he 
very  far  surpassed  his  instructers.  What  monuments 
of  their  wisdom  have  they  left  to  succeeding  ages  ? 
Wliat  impress  have  they  fixed  upon  the  character  of 
the  civilized  world  ?  Of  their  skill  in  the  arts,  both 
useful  and  ornamental,  there  are  unquestionable  proofs; 
and  so,  in  all  probability,  would  there  have  been  in 
other  departments  of  improvement,  if  they  had  made 
proficiency  in  them.  But  so  far  from  that  is  the  fact, 
in  all  the  records  of  antiquity  there  is  no  people  so  dis- 
tinguished for  what  may  fairly  be  called  stupidity,  and 
extreme  folly  in  their  rehgious  notions,  as  the  Egyp- 
tians. No  other  people  w^orshipped  beasts  and  birds 
and  insects,  as  they  did.  No  other  people  ever  imag- 
ined that,  by  preserving  the  dead  body,  the  hfe  of  the 


CHARACTER    OF    MOSES.  67 

soul  could  be  restored  on  earth.  These  two  facts, 
alone,  are  conclusive  as  to  the  mental  cultivation,  the 
philosophy,  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians. 

All  their  learning  consisted  in  acquaintance  with  the 
principles  of  some  of  the  mechanic  arts,  and  with  the 
practice  of  those  designated  as  fine  arts,  architecture, 
sculpture,  painting  and  music.  Of  their  poetry  we  have 
neither  specimen  nor  record.  So  that  I  cannot  but 
remark,  that  when  we  leave  material  objects,  and  ex- 
amine the  Egyptians  in  the  more  intellectual  depart- 
ments of  cultivation,  we  have  no  evidence  whatever  of 
their  having  made  any  memorable  advance ;  and  in  re- 
ligion and  philosophy,  they  were  really  behind  their 
own  times.  Astronomy  is  the  only  difficult  branch  of 
knowledge  which  they  are  reputed  to  have  cultivated 
with  some  success.  And  even  in  that,  their  progress 
can  scarcely  have  been  very  great,  destitute  as  they 
were  of  instruments  necessary  for  its  successful  study. 
If  Moses  had  been  a  great  mechanic,  or  painter,  or  jug- 
gler, his  Egyptian  education  might  have  been  useful  to 
him ;  but  what  sort  of  place  was  the  court  of  Pharaoh  to 
make  a  lawgiver,  the  father  and  founder  of  a  nation,  the 
teacher  of  truth  in  religion,  and  morals  and  philosophy  ? 
Would  the  worship  of  a  beetle,  or  a  bull,  lead  him  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  ?  Would  the  institutions 
of  Egypt,  the  oppression  practised  by  one  class  upon 
another,  and  which  all  combined  to  exercise  upon  his 
countrymen,  teach  him  those  excellent  rules  of  justice, 
and  forbearance  which  appear  in  his  law  ?  Who  gave 
him  his  insight  into  the  human  heart,  and  taught  him  to 
adapt  his  institutions  and  his  precepts  to  the  condition 


68  CHARACTER    OP    MOSES. 

of  his  brethren ;  not  to  leave  them  without  sensible  em- 
blems, and  yet  teach  them  to  regard  these  emblems  as 
signs,  and  so  wisely  to  mingle  ritual  observances  with 
religious  meaning,  and  intellectual  cultivation,  as  to 
make  a  monument  that  shall  last  as  long  as  mankind, 
and  will  always  command  the  admiration  of  the  wisest 
of  the  race  ?  No,  these  things,  and  the  wonders  that 
he  did,  in  the  political  creation,  as  it  were,  of  a  sepa- 
rate people,  are  not  to  be  accounted  for  by  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  learning  of  so  idolatrous  and  unintellectual 
a  nation  as  the  Egyptians.  Nor  can  they  be  explained 
upon  any  other  hypothesis,  as  it  seems  to  me,  than 
that  he  was  taught  of  God  how  to  effect  these  great 
purposes  ;  in  other  words,  that  he  was  inspired. 


INSPIRATION.  69 


CHAPTER  VI.       INSPIRATION.       MIRACLES. 

You  will  ask  me  how  you  are  to  understand  the 
word  mspiration  ;  and  the  answer  involves  great  diffi- 
cuky,-but  one  the  overcoming  of  which  enables  us  to 
vanquish  all  the  other  difficulties  that  arise  in  the  perusal 
of  the  scriptures  with  comparative  ease.  I  will  en- 
deavor to  explain  to  you  my  own  ideas  on  the  subject, 
and  if  they  seem  to  be  well  founded,  I  hope  they  will 
give  consistency  and  firmness  to  your  views  ;  that  they 
may  veer  neither  to  unreflecting  superstition  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  to  cheerless  increduhty  on  the  other. 

Nearly  every  one  who  has  arrived  at  the  years  when 
the  labors  and  cares  of  life  press  heavily  on  the  heart 
and  the  understanding,  (a  period  I  can  scarcely  sup- 
pose you  to  have  reached,  but  which,  in  the  natural 
course  of  life,  is  soon  coming  to  you  all,)  has  found 
himself  sometimes  looking  anxiously  round  for  relief, 
under  difficult  circumstances,  puzzled,  embarrassed,  or 
it  may  be,  even  distressed.  Suddenly  an  idea  occurs 
to  him,  which  has  the  same  effect  upon  his  mind  and 
spirits,  as  it  would  to  have  a  bright  light  shed  over  a 
dangerous  path,  which  was,  just  before,  covered  by 
dark  clouds  that  were  hurried  along  by  the  wind,  and 
were  terrifying  him  by  their  threatening  aspect.  He 
sees  clearly  the  point  at  which  he  is  to  aim,  and  the 
path  by  which  he  must  reach  it.  Certainty  takes  the 
place  of  doubt,  calmness  is  restored  to  his  thoughts, 
and  courage  to  his  heart.     The  idea  comes  to  him  he 


70  INSPIRATION. 

knows  not  whence  nor  how.  The  effect  he  feels,  but 
the  means  by  w^hich  the  effect  is  produced  are  not  dis- 
closed to  him. 

In  such  a  case,  the  worldly  man  plumes  himself 
upon  his  sagacity,  and  the  laborious  man  upon  his  pa- 
tient consideration,  the  skeptic  rejoices  in  the  fortunate 
hit,  and  the  devout  man  thanks  God  for  his  aid. 
"Which  of  these  is  right  ?  Which  is  the  truly  wise,  as 
well  as  good  man  ?  Surely  not  he  who  is  content  to 
praise  himself  alone,  as  if  he  were  the  unaided  source 
of  his  own  success.  He  neither  made  himself,  nor 
placed  himself  in  the  situation  he  occupies.  He  did 
not  create  his  own  powers,  nor  did  he  make  the  idea 
which  has  relieved  him.  Why  then  should  he  be 
proud  of  a  result  which  was  not  exclusively  of  his  own 
achieving  ? 

Still  less  is  he  wise,  who,  because  he  does  not  per- 
ceive the  means  by  which  a  result  is  produced,  denies 
their  existence,  and  attributes  to  chance,  or  accident, 
that  which  can  be  the  effect  of  nothing  but  intellect, 
knowledge  and  power.  Chance  is  not  a  power,  and 
can  therefore  produce  no  effect.  The  signification  of 
the  word  is,  merely,  that  we  do  not  perceive  the  rule 
according  to  which  the  result  is  produced ;  not  that 
there  is  no  rule,  and  no  power  which  acts  by  rule,  but 
merely  that  we  know  not  what  it  is.  And  it  would 
have  been  as  wise  for  an  astronomer  to  have  said,  five 
hundred  years  ago,  that  the  planets  revolved  by  no 
fixed  law,  because  he  had  not  discovered  it,  as  for  us 
to  say  that  any  event  occurs  without  design,  because 
we  cannot  perceive  the  mode  in  which  the  designing 
power  operates. 


INSPIRATION.  71 

The  only  other  akernative  is  that  the  rehef  was 
given  by  the  suggestion  to  his  mind,  of  the  idea  which 
was  so  important,  by  a  power  which  knew  his  position, 
sympathized  with  his  trouble  and  was  willing  to  relieve 
it.  That  power  is  God.  He  may  act  by  the  interven- 
tion of  other  beings  ;  but  this  is  immaterial,  for  if  He 
do,  He  made  them  also,  and  they  must  obey  His  will ; 
and  whether  the  effect  be  direct  or  indirect,  mediate 
or  immediate,  it  is  still  "  God  who  works  in  us  to  will 
"and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure." 

But  the  devout  man  is  as  ignorant  of  the  manner  in 
which  that  idea  was  conveyed  to  his  mind,  as  the 
skeptic,  or  the  worldly  man  can  be.  He  does  not 
know  whether  it  came  in  obedience  to  some  general 
law  which  would  have  operated  upon  every  human  be- 
ing in  similar  circumstances,  or  whether  it  was  a  spe- 
cial application  of  a  general  rule  to  his  precise  charac- 
ter and  Vvants,  or  whether  it  was  given  him  as  a  reward 
for  his  exertions,  or  in  answer  to  his  prayers.  What- 
ever he  may  think,  he  has  no  ground  for  knowledge, 
that  this  mercy  was  vouchsafed  to  him  in  any  peculiar 
manner.  He  will  not  therefore  claim  any  superiority 
over  his  fellow  men,  nor  make  any  pretensions  to  su- 
perior advantages  of  intercourse  with  his  Maker.  But 
he  will  at  the  same  time  be  sure,  that  this  interposi- 
tion, whether  it  was  brought  about  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner or  not,  still  came  from  God,  as  its  ultimate  source, 
for  there  is  no  other  power  from  which  it  could  have 
been  derived.  He  will  believe  that  God  has  blessed 
his  efforts  ;  and  he  will  know  that  if  he  had  not  exert- 
ed himself,  he  would  not  have  been  in  the  way  of  re- 


72  INSPIRATION. 

celving  this  blessing.     He  has  put  himself  in  the  way, 
and  has  been  rewarded. 

Here  is  the  combination  of  his  efforts  to  do  his  duty, 
and  the  mercy  of  God  to  sustain  him  in  it.  He  is  not 
therefore  without  reliance  upon  his  own  exertions,  any 
more  than  the  skeptic  or  the  wordling ;  but  he  looks, 
with  thankfulness,  beyond  and  above  himself,  for  that 
which  he  could  not  have  effected  alone. 

Many  men  have  probably  experienced  something 
like  what  I  have  described,  and  many  more  would  have 
observed  it,  had  they  been  attentive  to  their  course  of 
life  and  thought.  I  am  firmly  persuaded,  myself,  of  the 
interposition  of  the  Almighty  in  the  affairs  of  men  in 
this,  and  other  ways  ;  as  for  instance,  in  raising  up  a 
man  like  Washington,  or  Na^ioleon,  who  is  a  blessing 
or  a  scourge  to  a  large  portion  of  his  fellow  creatures ; 
in  leading  us  by  some  trivial  circumstance  to  avoid  or 
incur  a  great  calamity  ;  in  the  infliction  of  disease,  or 
the  restoration  to  health.  Now  all  these  interpositions 
occur  in  the  common  course  of  events,  and  though  they 
come  from  God,  yet  they  are  not  what  is  understood 
by  inspiration,  or  by  special,  visible  divine  favor  or  dis- 
pleasure. They  so  much  resemble  them,  that  have  I 
thought  it  would  help  you  to  just  ideas  to  use  them  in 
illustration. 

In  the  great  events  of  the  world,  such  as  civil  or  nat- 
ural convulsions,  we  can  scarcely  resist  the  instinctive 
impulse  to  acknowledge  the  finger  of  God  ;  and  in  the 
secret  recesses  of  our  own  hearts  we  shall  often  per- 
ceive it,  if  we  attend  to  the  course  of  circumstances ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  danger  of  our  becoming  fanci- 


MIRACLES.  73 

ful,  or  superstitious,  or  falling  into  that  odious  fault  of 
religious  pride,  I  think  it  is  a  spirit  to  be  rather  encour- 
aged and  cultivated.  It  leads  to  thought,  reflection  and 
observation,  and  inclines  us  in  all  things  to  adore  "the 
"ways  of  God  to  man."  All  the  danger  of  this  turn 
of  mind  may  be  avoided,  by  the  recollection  that  we 
know  not  the  truth ;  we  have  no  right,  therefore  to 
presume  that  God  watches  over  us  with  peculiar  care, 
or  communicates  with  us  in  any  peculiar  manner.  At 
the  same  time,  I  have  no  doubt  that  God  has  com- 
municated with  individuals  of  our  race,  in  an  especial 
manner,  and  has  given  them  the  right  to  say,  as  Moses 
did,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

If  this  be  so,  if  any  men  have  ever  been  authorized 
to  speak  in  God's  name,  we  naturally  wish  to  have 
proof  of  the  fact.  The  mere  assertion  by  an  individual 
that  he  is^ God's  ambassador  is  not  enough.  Every 
roguish  intriguer,  or  fanatical  enthusiast^  may  do  this, 
and  thousands  have  done  it ;  and  imposed  the  most  ab- 
surd and  pernicious  dogmas  upon  their  deluded  follow- 
ers. How  are  we  to  distinguish  between  these  and 
the  men  who  are  really  sent  from  God  ?  There  is  but 
one  way  in  which  we  can  discern  the  true  from  the 
false  prophet,  and  that  is,  by  finding  the  power  of  per- 
forming miracles,  ol  a  suitable  character,  on  suitable 
occasions,  or  the  inability  to  do  so. 

You  will  observe  I  say  miracles  of  a  suitable  char- 
acter. It  is  not  every  violation  of  the  usual  laws  by 
which  God  governs  the  world,  that  could  be  regarded 
as  a  proof  of  inspiration.  If  a  man  without  any  reli- 
gious, or  other  important  motive,  were  to  make  a  com- 


74  MIRACLES. 

pact  mass  of  lead  float  on  the  surface  of  water,  or 
throw  a  stone  into  the  air,  and  suspend  it  at  a  given 
height,  these  performances  would  clearly  be  violations 
of  the  laws  of  nature,  but  would  have  very  small  tend- 
ency to  convince  me  that  he  was  sent  from  God.  There 
must  be  something  more  than  a  mere  wish  to  surprise 
and  astonish.  There  must  be  an  object  which  is  in 
itself  worthy,  an  occasion  which  shall  justify  an  appeal 
to  superhuman  power,  and  a  suitable  display  of  such 
power. 

I  will  take  for  an  example,  the  smiting  of  the  rock 
in  Horeb,  by  Moses,  and  the  gushing  out  of  the  water 
to  save  the  perishing  nation.  Here  was  an  object  in 
itself  worthy,  viz  :  to  save  the  hves,  and  relieve  the 
sufferings  of  such  a  multitude.  Then  the  opportunity 
was  admirable.  All  natural  means  of  supply  had  been 
sought  in  vain,  and  gasping  thousands  were  watching 
every  action  of  Moses  with  the  eagerness  of  hope,  and 
the  agony  of  suspense  and  physical  pain.  And,  lastly, 
there  was  clear  manifestation  of  a  power  beyond  that 
of  Moses,  or  any  other  man,  over  physical  agents. 
No  one  ever  heard,  before  or  since,  of  a  rock  being 
parted  by  a  gentle  tap  of  a  rod.  It  is  a  thing  contrary 
to  the  nature  of  the  several  materials.  Yet  it  was  done 
in  confirmation  of  the  claim  of  Moses  to  divine  author- 
ity. Here  are  all  the  circumstances  which  I  esteem 
necessary  to  constitute  a  miracle  a  proof  of  authority ; 
and  the  authority  of  Moses  was,  accordingly,  confirmed 
in  the  minds  of  his  contemporaries,  and  of  succeeding 
ages  and  generations  of  reflecting  men,  by  this  and 
similar  works. 


MIRACLES.  75 

But  there  have  been  those  who  have  taken  the  in- 
genious ground,  that  miracles  are  intrinsically  incredi- 
ble, i.  e.  that  there  are  no  means  of  proving  them  to 
have  been  performed  at  all.  We  have  experienced, 
say  they,  the  falsehood  of  men,  and  we  cannot  beheve 
them  ;  we  have  experienced  the  fallibility  of  our  own 
senses,  and  we  would  rather  doubt  even  their  testi- 
mony than  believe  in  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature. 
Those  laws  are  immutable. 

There  is  just  such  a  mixture  of  truth  and  falsehood 
in  the  grounds  of  this  argument,  as  renders  it  specious, 
and  somewhat  difficult  to  answer  ;  and  yet  we  have  an 
instinctive  persuasion  of  its  fallacy.  Doubtless  we 
have  experience  of  the  fallibility  and  falsehood  of  our- 
selves and  of  those  about  us.  A  great  many  errors 
are  propagated,  some  by  design,  and  some  by  mistake. 
But  do  we,  or  ought  we,  therefore,  to  distrust  all  that  is 
said  to  us  that  is  new  or  strange  ?  A  man  would  be 
generally  considered  stark  mad,  who  would,  on  such 
ground,  refuse  his  belief  to  that  which  he  himself  had 
witnessed,  or  to  that  which  was  strongly  testified  to  by 
a  single  individual  of  good  character.  Circumstances 
generally,  if  not  always,  indicate  when  the  testimony  is 
good  and  credible,  and  when  it  is  the  reverse ;  and  to 
refuse  to  believe  a  man  who  for  many  years  has  borne 
a  good  character,  and  was  in  a  situation  to  know  that 
of  which  he  testifies,  merely  in  consequence  of  the 
general  knowledge  we  have  of  the  fallibility  and  false- 
hood of  human  nature,  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  as  lit- 
tle consonant  with  philosophy,  as  it  is  with  religion  and 
common  sense. 


76  MIRACLES. 

The  next  jDOsition  to  be  examined  in  the  argument  I 
have  stated  is,  that  the  laws  of  nature  are  immutable. 
What  is  the  authority  for  this  assertion  ?  Simply 
that  the  individual  experience  of  the  assertor  has  wit- 
nessed no  variation  of  them.  If  human  testimony  be  in- 
admissible, to  the  point  of  occasional  variations  of  the 
law,  it  is  equally  inadmissible  to  the  proof  of  the  per- 
manency of  the  law,  and  the  evidence  is  thus  brought 
down  to  individual  observation.  I  trust  that  what  I 
have  before  said  of  the  imperfection  of  human  powers, 
and  the  modesty  which  it  becomes  us  to  exercise 
in  relation  to  them,  will  satisfy  you  that  little  confi- 
dence ought  to  be  placed  in  an  argument  which  rests 
substantially  upon  the  assumption  that  they  are  all  suffi- 
cient for  the  absolute  determination  of  a  very  difficult 
point.  Who  has  told  these  men  that  the  laws  of  na- 
ture— to  speak  more  properly, — that  the  laws  of  God 
are  immutable,  in  respect  to  the  physical  world  ?  Who 
has  told  them  that  He  who  made  the  rule,  never  could 
change,  or  modify  it,  in  the  slightest  degree  ?  Cer- 
tainly not  the  Maker  of  it  and  them.  They  pretend 
to  no  direct  instruction  from  Him.  It  is,  then,  simply 
their  own  deduction  from  their  observation.  Does 
this  entitle  them  to  say  that  there  is  an  intrinsic  incred- 
ibility in  miracles  ?  Perhaps  an  extended,  or  more 
accurate  observation  of  the  working  of  the  laws  of  na- 
ture would  have  led  them  to  a  different  conclusion. 
Have  they  remarked,  or  do  they  know  the  causes  of  all 
events  ?  Do  they  know  that  the  diseases  which  ap- 
pear, prevail  for  a  time,  and  then  disappear  for  an  in- 
terval, are  the  results  of  the  regular  operation  of  fixed 


MIRACLES.  77 

laws,  or  of  a  violation  of  them  ?  Do  they  know  that 
the  upheaving  of  a  mountain,  or  the  depression  of  a 
continent  is  the  resuk  of  a  law,  or  of  its  violation  ? 
Do  they  know  that  the  series  of  revolutions  which 
have  taken  place  on  this  globe,  took  place  because 
any  general  law  required  them,  or  in  consequence  of 
a  special  interposition  of  an  overruling  Providence. 

Astronomers  have  discovered  that  there  is  a  very 
great  probabihty,  that  a  planet  once  revolved  in  an  or- 
bit between  those  of  the  planets  Mars  and  Jupiter. 
They  looked  for  it,  and  expected  to  find  it.  Accord- 
ing to  the  general  laws  appearing  to  regulate  the  dis- 
tances of  the  planets  from  the  central  sun,  there  seem- 
ed a  vacancy,  a  gap  in  the  succession  of  the  heavenly 
bodies.  They  found,  at  last,  not  one  planet  revolving 
within  the  limits  of  the  ecliptic,  but  four  small  ones, 
with  orbits  more  eccentric  than  those  of  the  other  plan- 
ets, not  in  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  but  revolving  at 
such  angles,  as  would  bring  them  at  opposite  nodes, 
within  that  plane ;  so  that  there  seemed  a  very  great 
probability  that  one  planet,  proportioned  in  size  to  its 
neighbors,  had  been  broken  up  into  four  parts,  which 
had  continued  to  revolve  round  the  sun,  but  in  a  dif- 
ferent manner  from  that  in  which  what  may  be  called 
the  parent  planet  had  revolved.  I  think  the  probabil- 
ity of  this  is  so  great,  that  it  may  be  taken  for  a  fact. 
At  least,  it  may  be  so  considered,  for  purposes  of  ar- 
gument, till  it  has  been  proved  to  have  been  impossi- 
ble. Now  who  shall  say  that  the  laws  of  the  planetary 
revolutions  are  immutable  ?  Here  was  a  planet  having 
a  given  period,  broken  into  four  parts  with  different 

7* 


78  MIRACLES. 

periods.  Who  can  say  that  the  same  may  not  happen 
to  Jupiter,  Mars,  or  the  earth  ?  Does  any  man  know 
that  nature's  laws  are  so  immutable  that  it  cannot  hap- 
pen, and  that  he  will  not  believe  an  astronomer  who 
shall  tell  him  that  Mars  has  suffered  the  same  fate  ? 
Whoever  discovers  such  self  confidence,  will  betray 
more  vanity  than  wisdom ;  and  so,  in  my  judgment, 
does  he  who  says,  "a  disease  cannot  be  cured  by  a 
word,  but  requires  the  use  of  remedies  ;  and  I  will  not 
believe,  if  it  be  told  to  me,  that  a  disease  has  been  so 
cured,  nor  even  if  I  think  I  see  it  myself,  for  testimo- 
ny is  fallible,  and  my  senses  may  deceive  me ;  but  the 
laws  of  nature  are  uniform."  They  may  be  uniform; 
but  no  man  knows  within  what  limits  they  are  suscep- 
tible of  modification,  for  reasonable  and  wise,  though, 
it  may  be,  inscrutable  purposes. 

No,  if  there  be  any  inherent,  intrinsic  incredibihty 
in  miracles,  it  is  only  incredible  that  human  power 
alone  can  perform  them.  That  the  being  who  made 
the  law,  should  have  the  power  to  modify,  or  even  re- 
verse it,  is  not  intrinsically  incredible.  It  is  no  more, 
in  itself,  incredible  that  God  should  make  the  sun  go 
back,  or  the  moon  stand  still,  than  that  He  should 
originally  have  made  them  go  forwards.  Such  a  state- 
ment may  be,  and  ought  to  be,  believed  upon  such  ev- 
idence as  would  convince  us  of  any  other  hitherto  un- 
observed phenomenon.  No  matter  how  vast  may  be 
the  changes  in  the  universe  we  may  suppose  must  ne- 
cessarily ensue  from  such  an  occurrence.  The  same 
being  who  made  all  worlds  and  the  laws  by  which  they 
are    governed,    can   modify,    change   or   destroy   the 


MIRACLES.  79 

whole.     Let  us  not  set  limits  to  a  power  the  extent  of 
which  we  do  not  know,  and  cannot  measure. 

The  next  question  that  arises  is — if  miracles  are  sus- 
ceptible of  proof,  is  there  sufficient  evidence  that  they 
have  been  performed  ?  The  Christian  says  yes,  un- 
hesitatingly. For  the  proofs  I  must  refer  you  to  the 
Bible  itself,  and  to  those  treatises  which  have  been 
written  on  this  subject.  It  is  an  extensive,  and  very 
interesting  inquiry,  upon  which  I  cannot  enter  in  these 
brief  notes,  and  which  has  been  treated  far  more  ably 
and  satisfactorily  than  I  could  expect  to  do  it. 

You  will  find,  if  you  agree  with  me  in  the  views  I 
have  presented,  reasonable  ground  of  belief  that  mira- 
cles have  been  performed  by  various  persons,  but  par- 
ticularly by  Moses  and  by  Jesus  Christ,  as  proofs  of 
their  divine  mission.  They  appealed  to  these  won- 
derful works  as  such  proofs,  and  they  are,  as  I  have 
said,  the  only  sufficient  proofs  which  can  be  given  of 
divine  communications  to  men.  If  no  miracles  have 
ever  been  wrought,  then  we  have  no  satisfactory  evi- 
dence that  there  has  been  direct  communication  from 
God  to  man  ;  and  those  who  have  pretended  to  perform 
them,  instead  of  being,  as  all  their  other  acts  would 
make  them  seem,  very  excellent,  as  well  as  wise  and 
intelligent  men,  were  the  greatest  impostors  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  They  were  nothing  better  than  rash, 
presumptuous  hars,  appealing  to  their  own  displays  of 
false  miracles,  for  the  strange,  and  on  this  theory,  un- 
accountable object  of  cheating  men  into  obedience  to 
the  highest  moral  law.     The  very  man  who  said,  in 


80  MIRACLES. 

the  name  of  Jehovah,  ''Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  wlt- 
"ness,"  is  found  to  be  the  most  treacherous  and  false 
of  his  race,  if  he  hed  in  this  matter.  The  very  man 
who  said,  "Go  and  show  John  again  those  things 
which  ye  do  hear  and  see,"  referred  John  to  imposi- 
tions upon  human  creduhty,  if  he  did  not  give  sight  to 
the  blind,  and  raise  the  dead,  as  well  as  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  poor. 

And  for  what  purpose  did  these  men,  whom  it 
strikes  me  as  so  absurd  to  charge  with  falsehood  that  I 
have  scarce  patience  to  write  the  word, — for  what  pur- 
pose is  it  to  be  supposed  they  assumed  this  position  so 
inconsistent  with  every  other  part  of  their  character  ? 
Think  you  that  the  life  of  Moses,  during  the  last  forty  of 
his  hundred  and  twenty  years,  was  an  object  of  envy  ? 
Do  you  suppose  he  was  happier  than  when  he  tended 
the  flocks  of  his  father  in  law  ?  Or  do  you  suppose 
he  could  not  foresee  the  troubles  he  was  bringing  upon 
himself,  and  like  many  other  ambitious  men,  was  dis- 
appointed in  the  object  of  his  pursuit }  The  natural 
tendency  of  his  ambition,  according  to  the  ordinary 
calculation  of  human  motives,  would  have  been  to  dis- 
tinguish himself  in  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  as  his  great 
progenitor  Joseph  had  done ;  and  after  defeating  the 
wise  men  of  Egypt,  it  surely  would  not  have  been  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  do  so.  But  he  preferred  leading  forth 
his  enslaved  countrymen  to  freedom,  toil,  danger  and 
poverty,  to  revelling  in  all  the  comforts,  luxuries  and 
elegances  of  royal  favor.  Was  he  ambitious  ?  Yes, 
but  it  was  of  true  greatness  ;  not  to  shine  by  deceit,  to 


MIRACLES.  81 

be  branded  in  after  times  as  an  impostor,  but  to  lead 
his  people,  and  all  who  should  know  their  history,  to 
the  knowledge  of  God,  to  virtue  and  true  rehgion. 

And  what  possible  motive  can  you  imagine  to  have 
influenced  Jesus  Christ  to  pretend  to  a  power  it  was 
not  given  him  to  exercise  ?  What  did  he  gain  by  it  ? 
What  could  he  gain  by  it  ?  Was  not  every  ordinary 
motive  which  governs  selfish  men  against  it  ?  Did  not 
his  preaching  and  his  miracles  combine  to  lead  him 
into  all  manner  of  misery,  reproach,  pain,  persecution, 
and,  at  last,  to  death  ?  Could  he  not  have  made  friends 
of  his  enemies  by  a  precisely  opposite  course,  and  have 
gone  through  life  in  splendor  and  power  ?  Doubtless, 
but  then  he  would,  indeed,  have  beeen  an  impostor. 
Then  he  W'Ould  have  saved  himself,  others  he  could 
not  have  saved.  Then,  instead  of  having  his  name 
exalted  above  every  name  for  righteousness  and  per- 
fection, he  would  have  been  a  vulgar  deceiver,  of 
w^hom  there  are  thousands  upon  record. 

The  inconsistency  of  this  charge  of  falsehood  with 
all  else  that  we  know  of  the  characters  of  Jesus  and 
Moses,  strikes  me  as  fatal  to  the  theory  of  ancient  and 
modern  unbelievers  in  miracles.  If  these  wonderful 
works  have  never  been  performed,  then  the  best, 
wisest,  greatest  men  the  world  has  seen  were,  at  the 
same  time^  the  most  perversely  wicked,  and  the  weak- 
est and  most  foolish  of  mortals. 

But  I  will  not  pursue  the  argument,  I  will  take  it 
for  granted  that  you  are  satisfied,  either  by  this  view, 
or  by  the  accumulation  of  evidences  you  will  find  else- 
where, that  miracles  have  been  wrought ;  and  will  pro- 


82  MIRACLES. 

ceed  to  point  out  what  they  are  designed  to  prove  and 
do  prove. 

On  this  subject  it  will  be  necessary  to  guard  against 
the  very  opposite  error  to  that  we  have  been  consider- 
ing. It  has  been  the  misfortune  of  the  Christian  world 
to  believe  for  many  ages,  and  a  large  portion  of  them 
beheve  now,  that  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  Bible, 
prove  that  every  word  in  it  is  the  dictate  of  inspiration, 
and  thus  that  the  Deity  is  responsible  for  the  whole. 
The  most  unhappy  consequences  have  flowed  from 
this  error.  Words  have  been  interpreted  strictly  which 
were  not  designed  to  be  so  understood ;  and  authority 
has  been  ascribed  to  language  which  was  never  intend- 
ed to  have  it.  I  have  already  mentioned  some  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  language  of  the  Bible ;  and  how 
great  is  the  difference  between  the  modes  of  thought 
and  speech  contained  in  it,  from  those  in  use  among 
us.  You  will  recollect,  therefore,  that  there  are  pecu- 
liarities in  the  modes  of  speech  which  we  find  in  the 
Bible.  These  various  books,  then,  are  not,  through- 
out, well  adapted  to  the  understanding  of  all  men. 
The  same  phrase  will  be  often  understood  very  differ- 
ently in  the  East  and  the  West ;  and  the  manners, 
customs  and  peculiar  circumstances  of  climate,  which 
are  famihar  to  the  writers,  and  are  constantly  referred 
to,  will  not  be  understood  at  all  in  other  regions.  This 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  characteristic  of  language 
which  would  be  selected  by  the  omniscient  Creator, 
for  writings  of  universal  authority.  Observe  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Decalogue,  and  of  Christ's  moral  pre- 
cepts, which  unquestionably  are  designed  for  universal 


MIRACLES.  83 

application.  Is  there  any  doubt  about  their  meaning  ? 
Does  not  a  Hindoo  understand  as  well,  and  in  the 
same  sense  as  an  Englishman,  the  divine  precept, 
"Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you, 
"do  ye  even  so  unto  them  ?''  It  seems  to  me  rational 
to  believe  that  if  every  word  in  the  Bible  were  a  direct 
emanation  from  the  divine  mind,  it  would  have  been  as 
universally  intelligible  as  these.  But  such  is  not  the 
case. 

Again,  a  similar  and  still  stronger  argument  is  to  be 
drawn  from  the  different  character  of  the  several 
books.  They  were  all  written  by  Orientals,  but  not 
by  the  same  mind ;  and  it  Is  very  remarkable  what  a 
prodigious  diversity  there  is  in  the  character  of  those 
minds,  as  exhibited  in  this  collection  of  writings.  Can 
any  thing  be  more  striking  than  the  difference  between 
the  works  of  Moses,  for  instance,  and  the  writings  of 
David  ?  Were  ever  any  two  men  more  unlike  than 
Isaiah  and  Solomon  ?  Shakspeare  and  Lord  Mans- 
field, Walter  Scott,  and  Bacon  do  not  resemble  each 
other  less.  And  the  Inference  seems  to  me  irresisti- 
ble that  the  individual  minds  of  the  writers,  and  they 
alone,  were  concerned  in  the  production  of  these  vari- 
ous works.  There  is  not  the  least  disagreement,  or 
inconsistency  in  the  moral  and  religious  principles,  the 
doctrines,  and  precepts  of  the  several  authors.  In 
these  things,  which  were  intended  to  be  of  universal 
authority,  they  are  all  agreed ;  they  are  perfectly  intel- 
ligible to  every  human  being,  of  every  chme  and  age, 
who  is  endow^ed  with  common  faculties  ;  but  in  every 
thing  else,  in  all  which  characterises  the  individuals, 


84  INSPIRATION. 

and  the  race  to  which  they  collectively  belong,  they 
differ  from  one  another,  and  from  the  rest  of  mankind ; 
they  are  intelligible  to  some,  and  unintelligible  to  oth- 
ers ;  their  modes  of  speech  will  lead  their  neighbors 
aright,  and  will  mislead,  as  they  have  misled,  those 
who  have  interpreted  them  without  reference  to  their 
peculiarities.  Now,  if  every  word  were  the  dictate  of 
the  Almighty,  I  cannot  conceive  that  all  this  should  be 
so.  The  whole  would  then  as  clearly  and  evidently 
be  the  work  of  one  mind  as  the  Decalogue,  and  there 
would  be  no  imperfection,  no  mistake  in  the  least  de- 
tail, any  more  than  in  the  most  important  doctrine. 
All  would  be  intelligible,  and  might  be  relied  on  with 
safety.  None  of  us  would  be  misled  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, and  it  would  be  as  plain  that  the  work 
could  not  have  been  produced  in  any  other  way,  as  it 
is  that  the  external  world  could  not  have  been  wrought 
by  human  hands,  or  minds. 

Compare  the  acknowledged  work  of  God  in  the 
physical  creation  around  us,  with  the  -Bible.  In  the 
whole  vast  universe  we  know  of  no  inconsisency  or  im- 
perfection. Every  leaf  of  every  tree  and  flower,  in- 
conceivably numerous  as  they  are,  is  finished  with  a 
minuteness  of  perfection  and  beauty  which  is  scarcely 
appreciable  by  human  faculties.  There  is  nothing  so 
insignificant  as  to  be  neglected,  nor  so  vast  as  to  be 
beyond  the  grasp  of  omnipotence.  Every  grain  of 
sand  is  weighed  and  polished  by  the  same  hand  that 
balanced  and  illuminated  the  sun.  If  every  word  in 
the  Bible  were  divine,  there  would  have  been  the  same 
minute  accuracy  and  perfection  observable  as  in  the 


INSPIRATION.  85 

works  of  nature.  This  is  far  from  being  the  case. 
There  are  numerous  imperfections,  inconsistencies  in 
minor  details,  shghtly  diiFerent  representations  of  the 
same  events,  and  many  similar  discrepancies,  which, 
while  they  do  not  in  the  smallest  degree  impair,  but 
greatly  confirm  the  general  credibility  of  the  whole,  if 
regarded  as  human  productions,  are  yet  conclusive  to 
my  mind,  against  the  verbal  inspiration  of  these  several 
works.  God  has  never  elsewhere  left  such  imperfec- 
tions in  His  works ;  I  cannot  believe  He  would  have 
done  it  here. 

The  reverse  of  this  argument  has  been  maintained, 
and  it  has  been  held  that  as  there  are  imperfections  in 
the  world  around  us,  and  as  the  course  of  Providence 
seems,  sometimes,  at  variance  with  perfect  justice, 
therefore  imperfections  were  to  be  expected  in  matters 
of  revelation ;  and  it  is  no  proof  that  a  revelation  has 
not  been  made,  that  it  does  not  seem  to  us  perfect, 
any  moi^  than  it  is  a  proof  that  God  did  not  make  the 
world,  because  there  are  imperfections  in  that. 

In  order  to  explain  in  what  manner  both  arguments 
may  be  sound,  I  must  call  your  attention  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  perfection.  There  are  two  kinds  of 
perfection,  positive  and  relative.  Positive  perfection 
is  the  attribute  of  one  being  alone,  God.  Relative 
perfection,  i.  e.  perfect  adaptation  to  the  place  de- 
signed for  it,  and  in  which  it  is  found,  may  be,  and  as 
I  maintain,  is  the  attribute  of  every  created  being.  An 
unorganized  mass  of  stone  is  not  certainly  a  perfect 
being,  but  it  may  be,  and  I  beheve  it  to  be  perfectly 
suited  to  the  place  it  occupies  in  the  world.     In  this 


86  INSPIRATION. 

limited  sense  it  is  perfect,  and  it  is  in  this  sense  I  use 
the  word  in  the  argument  above  stated.  Every  planet 
is  perfectly  adapted  to  its  sphere,  every  animal  to  its 
element,  every  herb  and  flower  to  its  climate,  every 
drop  of  water  and  every  grain  of  sand  to  the  ocean,  or 
the  shore,  of  which  it  forms  a  part. 

But  it  may  be  said,  plants  decay  and  animals  die. 
Is  this  perfection  ?  Yes,  if  they  be  designed  to  do  so. 
And  the  perpetual  succession  of  generations,  and 
change  in  the  position  of  material  things,  so  far  from 
being  an  imperfection,  is  one  of  the  splendid  wonders 
of  creation,  and  probably  both  animals  and  plants  im- 
prove faster  by  succession,  than  if  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual were  prolonged. 

But  they  suffer.  How  can  this  be  consistent  with 
perfection  ?  With  absolute  perfection,  like  that  of 
God,  it  cannot  be  reconciled ;  but  ihere  is  nothing  in- 
compatible with  it  in  the  idea  of  relative  perfection 
which  I  have  endeavored  to  express. 

But  they  are  unequal ;  and  how  can  two  individuals, 
of  whom  one  is  superior  and  the  other  inferior,  be  both 
perfect  ?  Perfection  and  equahty  are  very  different 
ideas.  Perfect  adaptation  is  entirely  consistent  with 
immense  differences.  The  sim  is  not  more  perfect  as  a 
centre,  than  the  planets  are  as  revolving  bodies.  The 
smaller  flower  of  a  colder  climate  is  as  perfect,  in  its 
place,  as  the  more  luxuriant  growth  of  a  warmer  region. 
The  savage  man  of  the  desert  is  suited  to  his  sphere 
of  action,  just  as  perfectly  as  the  most  refined  inhabitant 
of  "the  garden  of  the  world."  Now  if  the  sun  were 
made  to  whirl  around  the  planets,  or  if  the  rice  plant  of 


INSPIRATION.  87 

southern  savannahs  were  found  strugghng  with  the  cold 
and  the  drought  of  northern  hills,  or  if  the  young  Bedouin 
were  to  be  made  to  change  places  wuth  the  student  of 
Oxford,  according  to  ordinary,  or  frequent,  arrange- 
ments of  God's  providence,  tliere  would  be  inconsist- 
ency, want  of  adaptation,  imperfection  in  his  works, 
which  might  lead  us  to  expect  such  in  his  word.  But 
as  long  as  every  thing  in  nature  is  perfectly  adapted  to 
the  end  designed,  and  as  long  as  falsehoods  and  mis- 
takes are  not  found  in  the  works  of  God,  my  argument 
is  that  we  ought  not  to  attribute  them  to  the  Almighty 
in  what  is  called  "  His  word."  "  His  word  is  truth;" 
and  whatever  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  inconsistent 
with  strict  truth,  whether  in  the  assertion  of  fact,  or  in 
religion  or  morals,  must  be  ascribed  to  the  men  by 
whom  the  books  were  written,  or  to  the  imperfection 
of  human  language,  but  not  to  the  divine  mind. 

'■'  God  spake  these  words  and  said,  Thou  shalt 
*^have  no  other  Gods  before  me."  This  and  all  that 
follows  in  the  Decalogue  is  not  only  admirable  in  itself, 
but  is  consistent  and  beautifully  adapted  to  the  nature 
of  the  beings  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  and  singularly 
suited  to  the  whole  of  the  circumstances  under  which 
it  was  spoken.  But  did  God  also  say,  "  They  are 
corrupt,  they  ''have  done  abominable  works,  there  is 
none  that  doeth  good  ?"  No,  it  w^as  David  who  said 
this  ;  and  even  he,  certainly,  could  not  have  meant 
that  it  should  be  construed  hterally,  for  it  is  inconsis- 
tent with  all  those  passages  in  the  Psalms,  and  they 
are  many,  which  imply  the  existence  of  the  righteous. 
Yet  this  and  similar  texts,  which  are,  as  I  think,  simply 


88  INSPIRATION. 

poetic  exaggerations  by  human  authors,  have  been  re- 
garded as  the  "  word  of  God,"  and  as  such  have 
been  made  the  basis  of  rehgious  doctrines.  Self  con- 
tradictions are  not  to  be  attributed  to  the  infinite  God, 
though  they  may  be,  with  propriety,  ascribed  to  David 
and  other  men,  however  holy  ;  and  may  even  be  ac- 
counted among  the  beauties  of  language  not  intended 
to  be  used  with  philosophical  accuracy. 

It  would  seem  probable,  also,  that  if  God  designed 
to  save  these  books  from  every  imperfection.  He 
would  have  done  the  same  with  the  character  of  their 
authors,  in  order  that  they  might  not,  in  after  times,  be 
a  subject  of  reproach  upon  the  truths  and  doctrines 
they  taught.  But  Moses  and  Solomon  and  David, 
and  Peter  and  Paul  were  guilty  of  grave  faults  of  char- 
acter and  conduct,  and  the  traces  of  them  are  by  no 
means  imperceptible  in  their  writings.  This  does  not 
strike  me  as  consistent  with  the  doctrine  of  an  all  con- 
trolling inspiration. 

Once  more,  this  doctrine  asserts  a  divine  agency 
which  was  entirely  unnecessary.  The  common  facul- 
ties of  human  nature  are  quite  sufficient  to  record,  and 
publish  any  doctrines,  precepts,  or  facts  which  can  be 
impressed  upon  the  mind.  No  matter  whether  they 
be  derived  from  study  or  inspiration,  from  research 
into  God's  works,  or  a  direct  communication  from 
Him,  whatever  the  human  mind  can  receive,  it  can 
communicate.  So  true  is  this,  that  it  is  a  common 
maxim  among  intellectual  persons,  that  one  who  does 
not  communicate  ideas  clearly  has  them  not  well  de- 


INSPIRATION.  89 

fined  in  his  own  mind..  The  proof  of  having  clear 
ideas  is  the  intelligible  development  of  them. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  imbibing  the  great  doctrines 
of  the  existence  and  perfection  of  God,  the  accounta- 
bility of  man,  and  the  futm'e  state  of  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments ;  nor  in  comprehending  the  rules  of  moral  ac- 
tion which  are  prescribed  to  us  in  the  Bible.  I  con- 
ceive, therefore,  that  there  was  no  need  of  a  special 
interference  of  God's  providence  to  secure  that  which 
was  perfectly  safe  without  it.  If  Moses  miderstood 
what  God  communicated  to  him,  he  was  able  to  teach 
others  without  a  verbal  inspiration  of  his  writings. 

And  further,  this  inspiration  was  not  only  unneces- 
sary, but  it  would  have  been  totally  ineffectual,  with- 
out the  continued  supervision  of  every  copyist  of  every 
book.  It  is  a  matter  of  demonstration  that  there  are 
verbal  errors  in  the  Bible,  arising  from  the  carelessness 
of  scribes,  and  sometimes  even  from  wilful  alterations 
by  designing  men.  Of  what  use  was  the  minute  inspi- 
ration, then,  if  the  very  first  copyist  was  left  to  his  own 
intelligence,  integrity  and  care  ?  When  it  can  be 
shown  that  there  have  been  no  blunders  in  copying,  or 
translating  the  scriptures,  and  no  interpolations  into  the 
original  text,  the  very  reverse  of  which  is  demonstra- 
ble, then,  and  not  till  then,  can  I  believe  the  doctrine 
of  a  verbal  inspiration  of  those  books.  If  I  were  to 
explain  to  you  the  modes  of  writing  anciently  in  use, 
the  very  great  imperfection  of  the  manner  of  describ- 
ing sounds  by  forms,  especially  in  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, in  which  very  few  of  the  vowel  sounds  had  a 
written  representative,  you  would  perceive  much  more 

8* 


90  INSPIRATION. 

Strongly  the  great  force  of  this  argument.  Indeed  I 
look  upon  it  as  quite  a  sufficiently  wonderful  proof  of 
the  watchfulness  of  God  over  the  important  truths  con- 
tained in  these  books,  that  no  more  serious  errors  have 
crept  into  them.  The  errors  in  detail  prove  that  they 
are  not  the  writings  of  God,  properly  speaking  ;  the 
general  accuracy  of  statement,  in  things  important, 
proves  God's  care  of  the  great  doctrines  contained  in 
them. 

The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  is,  that  we  are  to  read 
the  writings  of  prophets  and  apostles  with  the  rever- 
ence which  is  due  to  the  productions  of  men  who  were 
inspired,  for  the  most  important  purposes  which  can 
be  imagined  to  affect  the  character  and  happiness  of 
the  human  race  ;  men  who  knew  that  they  were  inspir- 
ed, for  they  could  work  miracles  ;  and  whose  charac- 
ters, though  not  rendered  perfect,  were  yet  elevated, 
strengthened,  and  purified  by  intercourse  with  their 
Maker,  and  their  Saviour,  with  God,  and  with  Christ. 
But  there  is  no  reason  to  regard  them  as  any  thing 
more  than  records,  assertions,  and  teachings  of  inspir- 
ed men.  The  men  were  inspired,  not  their  writings. 
To  suppose  otherwise  is  only  to  degrade  the  character 
of  God  to  the  level  of  the  imperfection  manifested  in 
these  books.  Nothing  can  make  them  faultless,  and 
the  only  effect  of  regarding  them,  in  the  strictest  sense, 
as  the  word  of  God,  must  be  to  justify  the  sneer  of  the 
atheist,  who  tells  us  the  God  whom  we  worship  is  an 
imperfect  being,  and  cannot  protect  even  His  own 
works  from  error. 

You  will,  perhaps,  ask  what  is  the  meaning  of  the 


INSPIRATION.  91 

passage  in  St.  Paul's  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy, 
which  reads  thus  in  our  English  Bible,  "All  scrip- 
"ture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable 
"for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruc- 
"tion  in  righteousness."  This  seems  an  express  de- 
claration that  the  Bible  is,  word  for  word,  what  God 
spake  ;  and  it  has  been,  and  is  so  understood  by  many 
and  many  a  devout  and  excellent  Christian,  who  has 
faithfully  and  earnestly  endeavored  to  reconcile  this 
assertion  with  passages  which  did  not  seem  to  show 
divine  wisdom  or  knowledge.  Let  us  consider  it  a 
little,  and  perhaps  I  can  satisfy  you  that  the  text  means 
nothing  hke  what  has  been  supposed. 

I  will  first  transcribe  the  verse  immediately  preced- 
ing, which  reads  thus — "From  a  child  thou  hast 
"known  the  holy  scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make 
"thee  W'ise  unto  salvation,  through  faith  which  is  in 
"Jesus  Christ.  All  scripture  is  given,"  &c.  The  first 
thing  I  remark  in  the  whole  passage  is,  that  the  word 
scripture  is  used  as  a  translation  of  two  different  words 
in  the  original  Greek.  The  English  word  has,  in  our 
day,  and  I  believe  that  it  had  at  the  time  the  transla^ 
tion  w^as  made,  acquired  a  peculiar,  and  as  it  were, 
technical  meaning.  By  scripture,  or  the  scriptures, 
we  always  mean  the  Bible  ;  and  we  never  apply  the 
w^ord  to  any  other  writings  whatsoever.  The  Greek 
words,  for  which  it  is  given,  had  no  such  restriction 
upon  their  meaning ;  and  simply  meant  writing,  or 
writings,  in  general.  In  the  first  instance,  in  this 
passage,  the  word  holy  is  used  to  designate  partic- 
ular writings ;    but  in  the   second  case  it  is  not,  and  if 


92  INSPIRATION. 

the  translators  had  given  the  Hteral,  and  I  will  add,  the 
true  meaning  of  this  single  word,  they  would  have 
said — "from  a  child  thou  hast  known  the  sacred  writ- 
''ings,"  &c.  "All  writing,"  or  "Every  writing  is 
"given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  &c.  But  this  would 
have  been  going  a  little  farther  than  any  body  could 
have  supposed  St.  Paul  to  mean ; — St.  Paul,  who  was 
acquainted  with  the  literature  of  several  languages, 
doubtless,  as  he  was  educated  a  Pharisee,  at  Jerusa- 
lem, spoke  in  Greek  at  Athens,  wrote  in  Greek  to  the 
converts  to  Christianity  in  Grecian  cities,  and  preach- 
ed in  Rome,  where  he  had  the  rights  of  a  citizen.  He 
could  not  but  have  been  familiar  with  Grecian  and  Ro- 
man literature.  He  quoted  a  Greek  poet  in  his  ha- 
rangue to  the  Athenians,  and  he  must  surely  have 
known  that  not  all  the  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome 
was  divinely  inspired.  In  order  not  to  make  St.  Paul 
utter  such  an  absurdity,  our  translators  put  the  word 
"scripture"  in  place  of  "writing,"  thus  misleading 
multitudes  of  mere  English  readers. 

But  what  writings  were  those  which  St.  Paul  calls 
holy  ^  Certainly  not  our  Bible,  as  it  stands,  for  it  was 
not  then  collected  together,  nor  was  it  even  all  written. 
The  very  letter  which  he  was  writing  at  the  moment 
to  his  pupil  Timothy,  is  now  included  in  the  scrip- 
tures, and  of  course  St.  Paul  could  not  mean  to  refer 
to  that.  He  must  have  meant,  then,  the  lawgiver, 
prophets,  and  devotional  writers  of  the  Hebrews. 
And  if  he  had  even  intended  to  say  that  all  these  were 
divinely  inspired,  I  think  he  would  have  used  a  differ- 
ent form  of  expression.     "  Thou  hast  always  known 


INSPIRATION.  93 

*'the  sacred  writings,  which  are  able  to  make  thee 
"wise  to  salvation  through  faith  in  Christ.  They  were 
"given  by  the  inspiration  of  God,"  &c.  What  would 
have  been  more  natural  ?  But  instead  of  that  he  uses 
another  word,  to  which  he  does  not  prefix  the  epithet 
sacred,  or  holy ;  and  my  inference,  and  that  of  many 
able  scholars,  from  this  circumstance,  as  well  as  from 
the  construction  of  the  sentence  in  the  Greek,  without 
a  substantive  verb,  is  that  he  intended  to  express  this 
idea,  "all  writings  which  are  inspired  by  God,"  or 
still  better,  "Every  writing  which  breathes  the  spirit 
"of  God  is  profitable  both  for  doctrine,"  &c. 

You  see,  now,  how  very  different  is  the  true  mean- 
ing of  this  passage  from  what  it  would  appear  to  be  on 
first  reading  it  in  our  English  version,  how  important  it 
is  to  attend  to  all  the  circumstances  that  can  be  discov- 
ered to  elucidate  what  is  perplexing,  and  how  very 
important  carefully  to  avoid  translating  a  word  of  gen- 
eral signification  by  one  of  a  restricted  or  technical 
meaning,  as  well  as  the  reverse.  I  have  dwelt  the 
longer  on  this  phrase,  because  it  is  a  very  striking  in- 
stance of  a  fault  which  is  frequently  to  be  found  in  our 
translation,  when  by  a  seemingly  unimportant  or  justi- 
fiable variation  of  the  meaning  of  one  word,  a  very  es- 
sential alteration  is  made  in  the  idea  that  will  be  con- 
veyed by  the  sentence,  especially  to  unlearned  persons. 
"Scripture"  may,  to  the  scholar,  be  a  synonyme 
with  writing.  It  comes  from  a  Latin  word  which 
simply  means  any  thing  written ;  but  to  the  mere  En- 
glish reader,  scripture  means  something  very  different. 
The  absurdity  of  asserting  that  every  writing  is  inspir- 


94  INSPIRATION. 

ed  is  so  glaring  that  there  must  be  some  way  of  avoid- 
ing the  imputation  upon  St.  Paul.  Our  translators 
avoided  it  by  changing  the  signification  of  a  word. 
Better  scholars  than  they  have  avoided  it  by  a  more 
natural  construction  of  the  sentence. 

I  have  also  dwelt  on  this  little  passage  at  some 
length,  because  it  affords  a  very  good  illustration  of 
some  of  the  most  important  principles  of  interpretation 
adopted  by  Unitarian  scholars.  You  will  perhaps  see 
the  charge  brought  against  them,  as  it  has  often  been, 
of  perverting  the  meaning  of  the  Bible,  altering  the 
phraseology,  and  thereby  the  sense.  But  you  per- 
ceive, in  this  instance,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that 
the  same  is  true  in  others,  that  they  alter  it  because  it 
has  been  previously  perverted ;  that  they  endeavor  to 
bring  it  back  to  its  true  signification,  in  the  first  place, 
by  examining  into  the  meaning  of  each  word  ;  secondly, 
by  comparing  one  text  and  one  passage  with  another, 
especially  in  its  immediate  neighborhood ;  thirdly,  by 
inquiring  into  the  bearing  of  known  circumstances  at- 
tendant upon  the  condition  of  the  writer,  illustrative  of 
his  probable  meaning ;  and  fourthly,  by  never  imputing 
absurdity  to  a  respectable  author,  when  it  can  be 
avoided  by  a  legitimate,  and  still  more,  if  by  a  far  pre- 
ferable construction  of  the  sentence. 

Let  us  now  proceed  with  the  notices  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  remaining  books. 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  '  95 


CHAPTER    VII.       HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

The  books  which  follow  immediately  after  the  works 
of  Moses,  in  our  Bible,  are  twelve  historical  produc- 
tions, relating  to  very  distant  intervals  in  the  history 
of  the  Hebrews,  w^ritten  by  unknown  authors,  and 
at  unknow^n  periods.  It  is  clear  that  most,  if  not  all, 
of  them  were  written  long  after  the  occurrence  of  the 
events  recorded,  when  the  boundaries  of  truth,  and 
traditionary  fables  had  become  somewhat  uncertain, 
and  difficult  to  trace ;  and  they  possess  therefore  a 
very  different  degree  of  authority  from  the  works  of 
those  who  recorded  their  own  actions,  or  events  which 
they  had  themselves  seen  or  heard.  They  differ  also 
very  much  from  each  other  in  the  degree  of  care  and 
intelligence  displayed  in  their  compilation ;  so  that  the 
same  arguments  against  the  verbal  inspiration  of  these 
books  may  be  used,  with  still  greater  force,  than  against 
that  of  other  classes  of  works  in  the  Bible. 

But  if  not  inspired,  they  are  very  venerable  and  val- 
uable for  their  antiquity,  their  general  accuracy  and 
their  style.  They  are  next  to  the  wTitings  of  Moses 
in  antiquity.  We  have  notliing  else,  in  relation  to  the 
early  history  of  any  people,  which  is  comparable  to 
these  fragments  for  the  remoteness  of  the  period  to 
which  ihey  refer.  On  this  account  alone,  even  if  they 
contained  nothing  but  traditions  which  we  could  not  be- 
lieve imphchly,  they  would  possess  an  inextinguishable 
interest.     But  when  we  compare  them  whh  the  histo- 


96  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

ries  of  the  early  periods  of  other  nations,  we  find  they 
are  remarkably  free  from  follies  of  that  sort.  There 
is  really  very  little  that  need  disturb  us,  or  that  will 
raise  a  doubt  of  their  general  accuracy  in  fair  minds. 
Look  at  the  early  history  of  Greece,  or  Rome,  or  of 
Eastern  nations.  Fictions,  and  absurdities  and  impos- 
sibihties  so  abound,  that  one  can  hardly  find  a  single 
point  on  which  to  rest,  in  toiling  through  the  chaos  of 
nonsense.  There  is  scarcely  any  thing  that  suggests 
an  explanation  of  the  strange  incongruities  that  are  so 
multiplied,  or  that  can  be  reconciled  with  subsequent 
facts.  Not  so  with  the  early  history  of  the  Hebrews. 
In  these  books  there  is  little  which  is  either  obscure, 
or  of  doubtful  character.  The  greater  part  of  their 
contents  is  natural  and  probable  ;  and  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  unfortunate  claim,  brought  forward  by  other 
persons  than  their  authors,  to  divine  inspiration,  they 
would  be  regarded  with  much  more  respect  and  rever- 
ence than  they  usually  are.  But  the  ridicule  which 
has  been  heaped  upon  this  claim,  by  unbelievers  in 
revelation,  has  extended  its  influence  over  the  records 
themselves,  and  has  produced  a  confusion  in  the  mind 
which  renders  it  difficult  to  do  justice  to  them  as  hu- 
man productions.  Regarding  them  in  this  light  only, 
I  think  no  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  great 
merits  of  these  books  ;  as  first,  their  many  touching 
and  beautiful  exhibitions  of  true  refinement,  and  deli- 
cate affection,  of  which  specimens  are  seen  in  the  story 
of  Ruth  and  Naomi,  of  the  attachment  of  David  and 
Jonathan,  and  in  the  lament  of  David  over  his  rebel- 
lious son  Absalom.    These  exquisite  touches  of  nature 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  97 

are  unsurpassed — nay,  that  is  little  to  say — they  are 
unequalled,  unapproached  by  any  thing,  with  which  I 
am  acquainted,  recorded  in  the  early  history  of  other 
nations.  The  stories,  or  the  poetical  fictions  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  the  Pylades  and  Orestes,  the  Nisus 
and  Euryalus,  are  insipid  and  coarse  compared  with 
these  true  exhibitions  of  real  nature.  This  very 
superiority  of  the  Hebrew  writings  is  one  proof  of 
their  truth  ;  for  imagination  has  never  yet  reached  the 
height  of  reality.  God  created  our  nature,  man  in- 
vents fables. 

Secondly,  these  books  abound  in  proofs  of  sagacity, 
acquaintance  with  the  weakness  and  depravity  of  human 
nature,  \vhich  are  as  striking  and  true  as  the  examples 
of  its  beautiful  impulses.  See,  for  instance,  the  re- 
buke of  David  by  Nathan,  the  interviews  of  Elisha 
with  Naaman  and  Hazael,  and  many  others  that  are 
equally  profitable  for  "  correction  and  instruction  in 
righteousness."  And  here  I  will  remark  that  nowhere, 
in  the  literature  of  any  other  people,  do  we  find  such 
constant  reference  to  right  and^wrong,  the  principles 
and  the  obligations  of  virtue.  There  are  crimes 
enough  recorded  in  the  history  of  all  nations,  but 
where  else  were  the  rebuke  and  the  punishment  of 
crime  recorded  ? 

This  is  a  distinction  of  the  Hebrew  literature  from 
that  of  every  other  tongue,  that  deserves  something 
more  than  a  passing  remark,  or  acknowledgment.  It 
is  fundamental  and  inestimable.  Every  thing  seems  to 
have  been  written,  whether  history,  poetry,  prophecy, 
orproverb,  to  illustrate  the  advantage  and  beauty  of  vir- 


93  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

tue,  the  disgrace  and  deformity  of  evil  deeds.  Everj 
record  of  character  and  conduct  points  out  its  right,  or 
its  wrong.  Every  precept  is  given  to  inculcate  virtue, 
and  every  promise  and  every  threat  is  directed  to  the 
encouragement  of  the  upright,  and  the  terror  of  evil 
doers.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  Hebrew  litera- 
ture, whether  esteemed  canonical  or  not,  there  is  one 
continued  series  of  lessons  in  virtue,  and  warnings 
against  vice  and  crime,  both  by  precept  and  example, 
exhortation  and  threat.  And  it  stands  absolutely  alone 
in  this  its  glory. 

The  literature  of  other  languages  Is  devoted  to  a 
thousand  other  objects,  some  valuable,  and  some  tri- 
fling, and  some  injurious  ;  but  that  of  the  Jews  is  ex- 
clusively given  to  the  highest  good  of  which  we  are 
capable,  improvement  in  virtue.  Hoav  often  is  it  the 
case,  that  the  most  brilliant  works  of  gifted  minds  have 
been  the  very  reverse  of  improving !  How  often  does 
it  require  virtue  in  the  reader,  not  to  be  seduced  by  the 
attractive  pictures  of  vicious  pleasure,  or  interesting 
though  degraded  character  !  There  is  not  a  literature, 
ancient  or  modern,  eastern  or  western,  northern  or 
southern,  in  which  such  pernicious  works  may  not  be 
found ;  and  the  best  that  can  be  said  of  any  other  than 
the  Hebrew  literature  is  that  h  may  innocently  amuse, 
or  instruct  the  people  for  whom  it  was  prepared.  But 
there  is  not  a  book,  no,  nor  a  sentence  in  any  book  of 
ancient  Hebrew  hterature,  the  design,  or  calculable 
effect,  of  which  is  to  make  men  worse,  less  pure  or  up- 
right ;  and  there  is  scarcely  any  thing  the  design  of 
which  is  not  to  make  men  better.      There  is  no  want 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  99 

of  interest  either.  Nowhere  are  there  finer  delineations 
of  character,  nowhere  more  beautiful  stories,  nowhere 
more  sublime  poetry  than  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures. 
But  all  has  a  moral  and  a  highly  religious  tendency ; 
and  if  men  are  not  made  better  by  the  perusal  of  it,  it 
is  their  own  fault  and  not  that  of  the  books. 

I  do  not  mean  to  be  understood  to  say  that  the 
moral  and  rehgious  views  of  the  authors  of  these  books 
were  perfect ;  but  that  they  were  established  upon  right 
principles,  and  were  immeasurably  superior  to  those 
of  the  writers  of  other  contemporary  nations,  and  of 
all,  whether  earlier  or  later,  who  have  had  no  know- 
ledge of  the  works  of  Moses.  The  influence  of  these 
works  we  trace  on  every  page  of  the  historic  authors. 
None  of  them  attain  his  terseness,  or  his  sublimity; 
but  his  general  style  of  thought  was  obviously  familiar 
to  all  of  them,  his  habit  of  referring  all  events  to  God, 
his  views  of  the  character  of  the  Deity,  and  of  the 
duty  of  the  nation  and  of  individuals.  That  all  these 
were  imperfect  may  be  true,  but  so  probably  are  our 
own  views  of  God's  character  and  of  human  duty.  We 
must  not  pretend  to  have  attained  perfection  in  this  any 
more  than  in  other  things.  Our  means  of  knowledge 
and  reflection  on  these  subjects  are  better  than  those 
of  the  Hebrews,  and  so  were  theirs  better  than  those 
of  any  other  than  Christian  people.  If  God  should 
vouchsafe  to  give  the  world  another  revelation,  it 
would,  doubtless,  lead  us  onward  in  our  knowledge  of 
Him  and  of  our  duty,  in  some  way  adapted  to  the  then 
condition  of  mankind,  or  at  least  make  it  more  clear 
and  certain  j   but  it  would  not,  and  could  not,  render 


100  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

Christianity,  any  the  less  a  divine  revelation,  nor  in  any 
respect  or  degree  diminish  its  value,  that  new  and 
wider  views  should  hereafter  be  developed.  Just  so 
with  the  Mosaic  dispensation.  Christianity  led  men 
on  in  the  path  of  duty  and  religious  knowledge,  but  did 
not  diminish  the  value,  or  authority,  of  that  portion  of 
truth  which  had  been  previously  taught.  On  the  con- 
trary, our  Saviour  himself  says,  that  "one  jot  or  one 
"tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law."  The  imper- 
fection, or  rather  the  incompleteness,  of  its  effect  upon 
men's  minds  and  characters  is  not,  in  the  smallest  de- 
gree, an  impeachment  of  its  divine  origin.  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  writers,  warriors  and  others,  even  with 
this  law  to  guide  them,  should  fall  into  occasional 
errors  of  theory  and  practice.  Wonderful  indeed 
would  it  have  been,  if  they  had  not.  And  to  require 
that  every  writer,  and  every  eminent  person,  under  the 
Hebrew  dispensation,  should  be  without  error  and 
without  reproach,  is  as  extravagant  a  demand  as  can 
easly  be  conceived.  Yet  this  is,  in  fact,  the  argument 
of  the  unbeliever.  Because  David  sinned,  and  the  Is- 
raelites became  idolaters  at  times,  because  their  histo- 
rians made  mistakes,  and  sometimes  gave  us  tradition 
for  truth,  because  Moses  did  not  reveal  a  future  life, 
and  represented  God  in  His  character  of  judge  more 
than  in  that  of  father,  therefore  the  pretensions  of  the 
Hebrew  legislator  are  all  false,  and  the  value  of  his 
law,  and  of  the  history  of  its  effects  is  reduced  to  noth- 
ingness. No,  not  so ;  let  not  the  errors,  or  the  wick- 
edness, of  men  be  made  an  argument  against  the  char- 
acter of  God,  nor  the  limited  effect  and  extent  of  a 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  101 

revelation  be  regarded  as  evidence  that  there  has  been 
none. 

If  the  historic  books  of  the  Old  Testament  be  not 
inspired  writings,  they  are  still  of  the  highest  interest 
and  value,  as  human  records  of  human  conduct;  and 
if  some  things  are  stated  which  it  is  difficult  to  beheve, 
we  must  recollect  how  little  there  is  of  this  character, 
and  study  the  points  of  history,  or  of  geographical,  or 
statistical  knowledge  which  will  elucidate  much  that  is 
obscure,  or  doubtful. 

With  regard  to  the  miracles  recorded,  at  intervals, 
throughout  the  long  period  of  about  a  thousand  years, 
to  which  these  books  relate,  I  shall  leave  you  to  judge 
of  each  by  the  principles  I  have  laid  down,  and  shall 
let  you  decide  for  yourselves  upon  their  credibility  and 
importance.  If  the  transaction  seem  to  you  to  have 
occurred  in  a  manner  worthy  of  God,  and  the  occasion 
appear  a  suitable  one  for  the  exertion  of  miraculous 
power,  you  will  place  a  corresponding  rehance  on  the 
account.  If  otherwise,  you  will  attribute  the  error  to 
the  imperfection  of  humanity,  and  not  to  that  of  the 
Divine  Being.  I  doubt  not  you  will  avoid  both  the 
mistake  of  the  unbeliever,  and  that  of  the  supersti-^ 
tious  believer,  who  ask,  if  you  cannot  rely  upon  every 
word,  how  can  you  select  that  which  is  true  from  that 
which  is  false  ? 

The  question  is  easily  answered,  and  such  selection 
is  made,  every  day,  in  the  interpretation  of  the  writings 
of  our  contemporaries,  as  well  as  of  those  of  remote 
times.  We  say  such  an  assertion  is  probable  and  we 
believe  it;   in  su'^h  an  other  declaration,  the  judgment 


102  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

of  the  writer  was  affected  by  previous  prejudice,  and 
though  he  means  to  be  correct,  yet  we  cannot  esteem 
him  perfectly  so ;  in  such  another  assertion,  he  has 
suffered  his  wishes,  his  hopes,  or  his  fears  to  deceive 
him,  and  he  must  be  altogether  mistaken.  Nothing  is 
more  common  than  such  reasoning  about  the  best,  the 
most  honest  and  intelligent  writers ;  and  I  see  no  ob- 
jection to  our  exercising  our  judgments  upon  the  Jew- 
ish historians  in  the  same  way.  It  is  not  necessary,  in 
order  to  sustain  their  general  credibility,  that  every 
word  should  be  strictly,  hterally  true,  in  one  sense 
only.  It  is  required  of  no  other  ancient  writers  ;  why 
should  it  be  of  these  ?  Livy  and  Herodotus  are  not 
considered  as  altogether  unworthy  of  credit,  though 
they  do  tell  us  fables ;  nor  is  it  very  difficult  to  separ- 
ate the  probable  from  the  improbable  in  their  accounts, 
and  to  rest  with  a  satisfactory  confidence  on  what  ap- 
pears true  and  rational. 

I  should  scarcely  have  thought  it  necessary  to  say  a 
word  upon  this  point,  were  it  not  for  the  singular  cir- 
cumstance of  the  same  reasoning  being  used  by  oppo- 
site parties,  to  produce  results  which  seem  to  me 
equally  irrational.  The  too  credulous  behever  tells 
you  to  take  the  whole  as  the  inspired  word  of  God  ; 
that  you  have  no  right  to  put  any  glosses  or  interpreta- 
tions upon  it,  in  order  to  make  it  seem  reasonable  to 
your  mind,  and  that  all  study  is  therefore  unnecessary 
and  improper  ;  you  must  take  it  as  you  find  it,  and  if 
it  seems  to  be  nonsense,  you  may  call  it  a  mystery, 
but  must  not  undertake  to  determine  whether  it  is  pro- 
bable or  improbable,  true  or  false.     The  incredulous 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  103 

man  on  the  other  hand  says,  too,  you  must  take  it  as 
you  find  it,  and  if  there  be  any  absurdity  in  it,  you  can- 
not beheve  that  it  comes  from  a  perfect  being,  and  you 
must  reject  all  that  pretends  to  be  from  God,  and  yet 
is  mingled  with  imperfection. 

In  both  cases  the  argument  is  pushed  too  far.  We 
must,  understand  things,  not  always  as  they  appear  to 
us  at  the  first  glance,  but  as  they  seem  after  the  exer- 
cise of  our  intellectual  faculties  and  powers  of  research 
upon  them ;  and  then,  perhaps,  what  was  foohshness 
to  us  at  the  outset,  may  become  in  our  eyes,  the  per- 
fect wisdom  of  God.  To  the  superficial  observer  the 
Ptolemaic  system  of  the  universe  seems  the  natural  and 
true  one  ;  and  if  it  were  a  matter  of  religion,  he  would 
accuse  of  impiety,  as  has  actually  been  done,  any  one 
who  might  be  disposed  to  argue  against  its  truth,  from 
the  number  and  size  of  the  worlds  supposed  to  revolve 
around  us,  or  upon  any  other  ground  however  strong. 
But  it  is  obvious  that  the  exercise  of  our  reason  and 
reflection  is  as  much  a  religious  duty  as  it  is  the  dictate 
of  the  understanding,  and  that  he  is  not  true  to  himself 
who  will  attempt  to  believe  an  apparent  absurdity, 
without  explanation,  either  in  religion,  morals,  or  phys- 
ics. Neither  is  he  wise  who,  satisfied  of  the  impossi- 
bihty,  or  extreme  improbabihty  of  v/hat  has  hitherto 
been  believed,  contents  himself  with  denying  every 
thing,  and  calling  all  events,  of  w^hich  he  does  not  un- 
derstand the  order,  chance.  "  My  senses  have  deceiv- 
"ed  me,  he  says.  I  am  satisfied  the  sun  does  not  re- 
"  volve  round  the  earth ;  but  the  motions  of  the  heaven- 
"ly  bodies  are  an  unravelled  labyrinth.     It  is  all  confu- 


104  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

"slon,  there  is  no  order  about  it,  and  no  man  can  see 
"or  prove  any  system.  The  universe  is  an  accidental 
"collection  of  atoms,  which  will  one  day  be  accident- 
"ally  separated.  It  is  impossible  to  prove  the  contra- 
"ry,  and  therefore  I  cannot  be  convinced  that  there  is 
"either  system  or  designer." 

A  little  patient  observation  and  reasoning  would  have 
taught  him  that  though  his  senses  may  deceive  him  to 
a  certain  extent,  there  is  good  reason  to  trust  them, 
notwithstanding;  and  that  a  thorough  investigation  of 
the  intricate,  but  not  inexplicable,  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  would  bring  forth  the  most  splendid 
and  delightful  proofs,  not  only  of  design,  but  of  power 
and  beneficence  inconceivable  yet  universal.  It  is  with 
the  word  as  with  the  works  of  God.  Absurdities  may 
be  believed  for  a  time,  and  provoke  an  incredulity 
which  is  as  unwise  as  superstition ;  but  reason  and  re- 
flection will  ultimately  bring  truth  and  beauty,  and  in- 
finite goodness  out  of  seeming  folly,  or  cruelty,  or 
neglect. 

You  will  observe  that  the  miracles  recorded  in  the 
historic  books  of  the  Hebrews,  subsequently  to  the 
time  of  Moses,  have  this  important  distinction  from 
those  mentioned  in  the  first  five  books,  that  they  are 
not  recorded  by  those  who  wrought  them,  or  witnessed 
them.  They  are  spoken  of  as  matters  of  past,  and 
sometimes  of  long  past  history,  and  ought  to  be  exam- 
ined by  the  rules  of  evidence  applicable  to  such  docu- 
ments. I  do  not  say  this  to  throw  doubt  upon  them, 
but  lo  put  you  upon  the  exercise  of  your  reason  in  re- 
spect to  them.     Some  of  them  are  surely  not  unworthy 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  105 

of  belief ;  and  if,  in  regard  to  others,  you  think  it  more 
reasonable  to  believe  that  a  highly  poetical  expression, 
or  a  simple  exaggeration,  has  been  converted,  by  too 
literal  an  interpretation,  into  a  record  of  miracle,  you 
impeach  no  one's  veracity  by  so  believing,  and  you 
throw  no  doubt  over  the  general  accuracy  of  the 
history. 

The  character  of  the  people,  as  dehneated  in  the 
detached  portions  of  their  history  which  have  been 
transmitted  to  us,  was  a  very  pecuhar  one.  Men  of 
right  minds,  well  instructed  in  the  law  and  precepts  of 
Moses,  and  wisely  resolved  to  pursue  the  course  point- 
ed out  in  them,  appear  to  have  been  mingled  with  a 
large,  and  sometimes  preponderating,  portion  of  per- 
verse and  ignorant  persons,  who  constantly  prevented 
the  effects  that  would  naturally  have  arisen  from  union ; 
while  the  obstinacy  of  character  for  which  both  parties 
were  remarkable,  tended  to  preserve  the  recollection, 
and  at  least  partial  observance,  of  the  institutions  of 
Moses,  and  at  the  same  time,  to  exhibit  in  the  strong- 
est manner  the  dangers  to  which  those  institutions  were 
exposed.  Perhaps  the  perpetual  controversies,  polit- 
ical and  rehgious,  which  took  place  among  them,  were, 
on  the  whole,  favorable  to  the  preservation  of  the 
works  of  their  lawgiver,  of  both  kinds.  Certainly  it 
was  better  that  there  should  be  disputes,  than  that  a 
nominal  observance  of  the  law  should  have  gone  on, 
with  the  indifferent  acquiescence  of  the  nation,  till  the 
gradual  progress  of  abuses  should  have  covered  over 
the  whole,  and  its  memory  have  perished  in  the  excess 


106  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

of  Pharisaical  observances,  or  the  sterility  of  Saddu- 
cean  unbelief. 

For  many  generations  after  their  successful  establish- 
ment in  Canaan,  under  Joshua,  they  seem  to  have  been 
in  a  state  of  great  anarchy,  perpetually  suffering  from 
the  hostility  of  the  former  inhabitants  whom  they  had 
permitted  to  remain,  and  without  union  among  them- 
selves, and  therefore  without  power  to  subdue  their 
ancient  foes.  It  is  a  very  striking  fact,  that  though  the 
history  of  the  reigns  of  Saul  and  David,  the  first  mon- 
archs,  is  given  with  more  detail  than  that  of  any  other 
portion  of  a  thousand  years,  yet  not  a  word  is  said  of 
the  pohtical  means  by  which  the  nation  was  consoli- 
dated, its  scattered  force  united,  and  rendered  respect- 
able, or  how,  in  a  few  years,  they  w^ere  brought  from 
civil  war  and  confusion,  to  a  hitherto  unknown  degree 
of  power  and  prosperity.  The  personal  character  and 
conduct  of  Saul  and  David  are  dwelt  on,  their  political 
measures  altogether  omitted ;  an  extraordinary  illustra- 
tion of  the  tendency  of  the  Hebrew  writers  to  attribute 
the  course  of  events  to  the  will  of  God,  and  to  regard 
it  as  part  of  His  system  of  punishing  wickedness  and 
rewarding  virtue. 

The  curiosity  of  the  modern  world,  which  is  very 
much  limited  to  the  discovery  of  second  causes,  cannot 
now  be  gratified  in  this  instance,  and  we  must  be  satis- 
fied with  the  knowledge  of  the  result  only.  Certain  it 
is,  that  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  David,  and 
during  that  of  Solomon,  his  son,  the  kingdom  was 
flourishing  in  peace,  and  wealth,  and  splendor ;  while, 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS.  107 

both  before  and  afterwards,  during  the  whole,  indeed, 
of  the  rest  of  their  national  existence,  they  were  torn 
in  pieces  by  domestic  factions,  assailed  by  enemies, 
carried  captive  into  other  lands,  or  reduced  to  subjec- 
tion at  home.  It  would  have  been  interesting,  and 
probably  instructive,  to  have  had  the  means  by  which 
this  result  was  effected  particularly  set  forth ;  but  the 
great  lesson  of  God's  moral  government  is  still  more 
valuable,  and  it  is  constantly  and  wisely  enforced  on 
every  page  of  the  history  of  the  nation,  as  it  is  in  every 
line  of  their  poetry,  prophecy  and  law. 

Comparing  the  later  works  with  those  of  Moses,  in 
this  respect,  we  see  another  instance  of  the  superiority 
of  that  extraordinary  man.  He  recorded  every  thing 
that  it  was  important  should  be  known,  whether  of  a 
rehgious  or  a  secular  character ;  and  the  rate  of  taxa- 
tion and  the  military  arrangement  of  the  tribes  are  men- 
tioned in  their  proper  places,  as  well  as  the  moral  law, 
and  the  exhortations  to  obedience  and  virtue. 

After  the  death  of  Solomon,  the  tribe  of  Judah  was 
separated  from  the  other  ten  tribes  who  had  territorial 
possessions,  the  tribe  of  Levi  being  scattered  among 
them  all  in  different  cities,  and  there  were  two  contem- 
porary kings  of  the  two  divisions  of  the  nation.  This 
lasted  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  years,  when  the  ten  tribes  inhabiting  the 
northern  part  of  Canaan,  were  subdued  by  the  Assyri- 
ans, and  carried  into  captivity,  from  which  it  does  not 
appear  that  they  were  ever  restored,  in  the  form,  at 
least,  of  separate  tribes.  One  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later,  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  also  carried  captive  to 


108  HISTORICAL    BOOKS. 

Babylon,  and  the  organization  of  both  kingdoms,  and 
of  all  the  separate  tribes,  was  effectually  destroyed. 

After  a  seventy  years'  captivity,  there  was  a  general 
restoration  of  the  Jews  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  in 
the  reigns  of  Cyrus  and  Darius,  w^ho  is  called  Ahasu- 
erus  in  the  Bible  ;  but  they  never  recovered  any  con- 
siderable degree  of  national  power,  were  perpetually 
harassed  by  their  neighbors,  and  were,  at  last,  over- 
whelmed by  the  all-pervading  growth  of  the  Roman 
empire.  They  were  reduced  to  tributary  subjection 
by  this  remarkable  people ;  and  were  suffered  to  re- 
main in  their  holy  land,  as  long  as  they  did  not  pretend 
to  an  independent  government.  I  shall  remark  upon 
the  circumstances  of  their  condition,  at  that  period, 
when  I  come  to  speak  of  the  New  Testament. 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  109 


CHAPTER    VIII.       THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 


There  are  two  other  classes  of  books,  the  poetic 
and  prophetic,  of  which  I  have  yet  to  treat.  The  two 
classes  run  into  each  other  in  some  degree,  or  rather 
poetry  and  prophecy  are  blended  in  the  one,  poetry 
alone  is  found  in  the  other.  The  purely  poetical  books 
are  the  five  immediately  following  the  historical  works. 
Job,  the  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and  the 
Song  of  Solomon. 

In  order  to  prove,  or  illustrate,  the  great  merits  of 
these  books,  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  attempt 
to  define,  with  exactness,  what  poetry  is.  You  know 
that  it  is  the  strongly  excited,  or  figurative  language,  in 
which  the  imagination  and  emotions  delight  to  express 
themselves  ;  and  which,  whatever  may  be  the  diversi- 
ties of  taste  and  cultivation  among  men,  never  fails  to 
please  and  interest  all  who  are  capable  of  understanding 
it,  provided  it  be  adapted  to  the  structure  of  our  com- 
mon nature.  There  is  a  very  great  difference  in  the 
fertility  of  the  imagination,  and  the  strength  of  the  feel- 
ings, in  different  races  of  men;  and  it  is  necessary  to 
study  these  differences,  in  order  fully  to  appreciate  the 
merits  of  poetical  composition  in  various  languages,  and 
under  very  different  circumstances.  Much  that  may 
appear  of  exquisite  beauty  and  naturalness  to  an  Orien- 
tal, may  seem  turgid  or  bombastic  to  one  of  colder 
temperament ;  while  the  grace  and  refinement  of  the 

10 


110  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

west  may  appear  apathy  and  insipidity  to  the  warm 
feelings  of  the  east.  But  whatever  may  be  the  consti- 
tutional, or  other  differences  between  us  and  the  writers 
of  this  poetry,  no  one,  I  ^m  sure,  has  ever  read  it — -no 
one,  I  mean,  who  was  capable  of  poetical  excitement — 
whose  heart  was  not  warmed,  whose  imagination  was 
not  stimulated,  and  whose  intellect  was  not  brightened 
and  strengthened  by  the  perusal. 

Of  the  mechanical  structure  of  Hebrew  poetry,  very 
little  is  known  with  certainty.  Two  points  are  pretty 
clearly  established.  The  first  is,  that  sometimes  the 
beginning  of  the  lines,  or,  it  may  be  of  the  alternate 
lines,  or,  perhaps,  of  stanzas,  including  four,  six,  or 
eight  lines,  was  distinguished  by  the  regular  succession 
of  the  initial  letters  in  the  order  of  the  alphabet,  giving 
to  the  whole  a  structure  somewhat  like  those  pieces  in 
our  language,  called  acrostics.  But,  whether  the  lines 
were  divided  alike,  and  were  separated  into  feet  of  a 
given  length  and  number,  hke  the  poetry  of  other  an- 
cient languages ;  or  whether  they  were  marked,  as  in 
modern  tongues,  by  accented  syllables,  and  rhymes  at 
the  termination ;  or  whether,  like  blank  verse,  they 
contained  a  certain  number  of  syllables  only,  is  entirely 
a  matter  of  conjecture,  and  must  forever  remain  so, 
probably. 

The  other  point  which  is  ascertained  is,  that  there 
is  a  certain  parallelism  between  the  members,  whether 
longer  or  shorter,  of  which  the  poetry  is  composed ;  so 
that  the  meaning  of  one  clause  is,  first,  either  an  ampli- 
fication of  that  of  the  other  ;  or,  secondly,  a  contrast 
to  it ;  or,  thirdly,  the  grammatical  structure  of  the  lines 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  Ill 

is  exactly  alike,  i.  e.  nouns,  verbs,  &c.,  stand  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  relative  position  to  each  other.  An  in- 
stance of  the  first  is  the  following  couplet : 

Who  is  he  that  loveth  life. 

And  desireth  many  days,  in  which  he  may  see  good  ? 

and  the  following: 

The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  upon  the  righteous. 
And  his  ears  are  open  unto  their  cry. 

The  second  description  is  seen  in  the  following  passage: 

A  wise  son  maketh  a  glad  father  ; 
But  a  foolish  son  is  the  heaviness  of  his  mother. 
Treasures  of  wickedness  profit  nothing  ; 
But  righteousness  delivereth  from  death. 

The  third  species  is  seen  in  these  lines : 

The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect, 

Reviving  the  soul  ; 

The  precepts  of  the  Lord  are  sure. 

Giving  wisdom  to  the  simple  ; 

The  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right. 

Rejoicing  the  heart  ; 

The  commandments  of  the  Lord  are  pure. 

Enlightening  the  eyes. 

It  is  manifest  that  these  forms  have  quite  as  much  to 
do  with  the  style  of  thought,  as  with  that  of  expression  ; 
and  it  is  a  matter  of  ciu'iosity  only  whether  they  have 
been  correctly  assigned  to  Hebrew  poetry,  or  not. 
But  the  character  of  the  thoughts  themselves  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  matter  of  curiosity ;  and  it  is  impos- 


112  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

sible  to  read  the  magnificent  and  beautiful  figures,  the 
pure  and  lofty  sentiments  which  abound  in  Hebrew  po- 
etry, without  admiration  and  delight ;  and  when  to 
these  emotions  are  added  the  charms  derived  from  the 
simplicity  and  pure  piety  exhibited  in  them,  they  must 
be  regarded  as  the  most  valuable  specimens  of  poetical 
thought  which  have  ever  been  committed  to  writing. 

The  book  of  Job,  though  the  train  of  reasoning  is 
not  always  very  clearly  intelligible,  contains  passages  of 
unrivalled  sublimity — ^passages  which  neither  have  been, 
nor  can  be,  in  my  opinion,  surpassed  for  elevating 
thoughts  and  splendid  diction.  It  has  been  supposed 
by  some,  that  this  \s>  the  most  ancient  work  in  the 
Bible,  having  been  written  previously  to  the  time  of 
Moses.  This  idea,  however,  is  inconsistent  with  the 
notion  I  cannot  but  entertain,  of  the  universality  of 
idolatry,  and  total  ignorance  of  the  true  character  of 
God,  except  among  the  Hebrews.  There  are  so  many 
just  views  expressed  in  relation  to  God  and  human  life, 
and  their  connexion  with  each  other,  that  I  cannot  im- 
agine any  one  to  have  obtained  them  before  God  spake 
to  Moses.  We  should  probably  know  more  of  such  a 
remarkable  man  as  the  author  of  this  book  must  have 
been,  if  he  had  acquired  all  this  knowledge  in  the  midst 
of  heathenism  and  idolatry  ;  and  if  there  were  a  people, 
before  the  Hebrews,  who  were  not  heathens  and  idola- 
ters, who  were  they,  and  where  did  they  dwell  ?  No> 
if  the  author  of  this  truly  great  poem  were  not  Moses 
himself,  which  is  not  impossible,  (though,  I  confess,  I 
think  it  lacks  something  of  the  clearness  and  practical- 
ness of  Moses,)  it  must  have  been  some  one  acquainted 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  113 

with  his  writings  and  imbued  with  his  spirit.  He  must 
have  had  a  powerful  and  original  mind,  too,  as  there  is 
no  implicit  following  of  any  other  person's  reflections ; 
but  he  strikes  out  a  path  for  himself,  and  expresses 
himself  with  an  energy  and  power,  which  have  been  the 
envy  of  all  succeeding  generations  of  authors. 

There  is  the  same  character  in  it  that  prevails  in  all 
the  other  sacred  books,  leading  us  to  the  love  and  the 
practice  of  virtue  for  its  own  sake,  and  for  its  natural 
consequences  ;  and  it  is  therefore  worthy  of  its  place 
among  the  most  valuable  intellectual  and  religious  trea-^ 
sures  of  the  world. 

The  next  book  is  the  collection  of  Psalms,  or  Songs, 
which  are  called  the  Psalms  of  David — the  principal, 
but  not  the  only  writer  of  them.  The  word  Psalm  is 
not  now  applied  to  any  compositions  but  these  ;  and  to 
many  persons  it  may  savor  of  irreverence  to  call  these 
productions  by  so  slight  a  name  as  songs.  But  such 
they  are ;  they  were  written  to  be  sung,  and  not  only 
so,  they  actually  were  sung,  probably  by  their  author, 
as  well  as  by  those  whom  he  caused  to  be  instructed  in 
music  for  the  purpose.  They  are  lyrics,  therefore, 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word ;  and  they  possess  a 
variety  of  style,  a  beauty,  and  sometimes  a  subhmity 
of  thought  rarely  attained  in  any  language. 

But  it  is  not  the  imagination  alone  that  is  exercised 
in  these  poems.  There  is  not  a  human  feeling,  or  an 
emotion  of  the  heart,  which  is  not  warmly  exhibited  in 
a  manner  which  can  scarcely  fail  to  excite  the  sympathy 
of  those  who  read  them ;  and  as  long  as  men  are  sus^ 

10* 


114  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

ceptible  of  love,  gratitude,  penitence,  exultation,  joy, 
or  grief,  will  these  delightful  compositions  be  read  with 
the  deepest  interest.  We  must  peruse  them,  it  should 
be  recollected,  under  great  disadvantages.  Many  fig- 
ures and  illustrations  no  doubt  aftect  us  very  feebly, 
compared  with  their  power  over  those  for  whom  they 
were  written.  We  are  ignorant  of  much  that  would 
elucidate  the  beauties  of  the  poems ;  and  there  are  some 
things  which  are  not  perfectly  adapted  to  our  taste. 
But  enough  is  left  to  render  them  invaluable  to  us, 
whether  we  regard  them  as  poetry  merely,  or  as  aids 
to  produce  and  nourish  the  highest  and  best  rehgious 
feelings. 

Only  one  objection,  that  I  am  aware  of,  has  ever  been 
made  to  the  character  of  the  Psalms ;  and  that  is,  the 
apparent  vindictiveness  manifested  in  the  imprecations 
against  enemies,  both  personal  and  national.  It  is,  un- 
doubtedly, a  blemish,  and  should,  I  think,  be  frankly 
admitted  to  be  such,  by  all  who  wish  to  place  a  just 
estimate  upon  the  poems.  There  is  no  reason  why  it 
should  not  be  allowed,  if  they  be  considered  as  the  works 
of  a  man,  and  not  of  God.  We  expect  to  find  errors 
and  defects  in  the  one,  though  not  in  the  other ;  and 
however  difficult  it  may  be  to  reconcile  vehement  de- 
nunciation of  enemies  with  the  perfection  of  God,  there 
is  no  difficulty  whatever  in  accounting  for  its  appear- 
ance among  the  frailties  of  human  nature ;  and  as  long 
as  they  are  called  the  Psalms  of  David,  I  think  he 
should  bear  the  blame  of  their  defects,  as  well  as  re- 
ceive the  admiration  which  their  beauties  deserve.  In 
truth,  setting  the  one  against  the  other  serves  only  to 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  115 

exhibit  the  magnitude  and  splendor  of  his  merits  as  an 
author ;  and  scarcely  diminishes  his  claim  to  our  thanks 
and  our  love. 

As  a  warrior,  David  was  victorious  ;  as  a  statesman, 
he  was  eminently  successful  in  consolidating  his  king- 
dom ;  and  as  a  ruler,  he  was  able  to  maintain  and  trans- 
mit his  crown,  notwithstanding  many  assaults  from 
within  and  without.  He  contributed  largely,  also,  to 
the  improvement  and  civilization  of  his  people  in  many 
w*ays,  particularly  by  his  persevering  and  successful 
eftbrts  in  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  poetry  and  music. 
The  proofs  of  his  genius  in  the  former  are  before  us  in 
his  lyrics ;  and  if  his  talent  in  music  corresponded  at 
all  with  that  which  he  exhibited  in  poetry,  he  must  be 
acknowledged  to  have  been  a  man  of  rare  gifts  and  ac- 
complishments. It  will  not  seem  doubtful  that  he  had 
great  talents  and  acquirements  in  music^  to  one  w^ho 
recollects  the  effects  of  his  harp  upon  Saul,  and  the 
fondness  which  he  displayed  for  the  art  during  his  whole 
reign.  He  assembled  what  we  should  call,  in  modern 
times,  a  large  choir  and  orchestra,  and  had  them  per- 
petually drilled  and  practised  in  singing  and  playing, 
for  the  service  of  the  temple.  We  are  told  that  he 
made  instruments,  by  which  I  suppose  is  meant  that  he 
invented  their  construction ;  and  it  is  evident  that  he 
spared  no  pains,  or  expense,  for  perfecting  the  per- 
formances of  his  band.  If  he  composed  the  music — 
as  is  not  improbable — wrote  the  poetry,  and  invented 
the  instruments  of  accompaniment,  he  must  have  been 
a  great  master ;  and  a  relic  of  one  of  his  instruments,  or 
a  fragment  of  his  musical  composition,  might  be  as 


116  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

good  a  lesson  for  us  in  that  art,  as  his  songs  are  in  po- 
etry. Among  the  many  examples  of  the  cultivation  of 
music  by  the  good  and  the  great,  it  is  not  unworthy  of 
notice  that  the  best,  and  I  think  I  must  say,  the  great- 
est of  the  Hebrew  monarchs,  should  have  been  so  de- 
voted a  patron  of  the  art.  It  will  help  us  to  put  a  just 
estimate  upon  its  importance,  to  find  it  so  much  es- 
teemed by  men  of  superior  minds. 

You  observe  I  speak  highly  of  David's  character, 
both  as  a  man  and  as  a  prince  ;  and  notwithstanding  he 
committed  great  faults  and  sins,  I  am  justified  by  the 
language  of  the  sacred  historians  themselves  in  this  en- 
comium. He  is  even  called  by  them  "the  man  after 
"God's  own  heart."  I  Samuel,  13,  14.  Now  this 
is  a  specimen  of  scripture  language  to  which  I  wish  to 
call  your  attention,  as  affording  another  example  of  the 
way  in  which  the  Bible  must  be  interpreted,  unless  w^e 
are  willing  to  consider  it  inconsistent  with  itself,  as  well 
as  with  all  common  principles  of  virtue.  Must  these 
words  be  construed  literally,  in  the  meaning  which  first 
presents  itself  to  the  mind  upon  reading  them ;  and 
must  we  infer  that  God  approved  of  every  act  of  Da- 
vid's life,  and  is  therefore  an  imperfect  being  ?  Surely, 
we  should  not  accuse  any  human  being  of  dehberately 
approving  the  wicked  acts  of  David ;  much  less  ought 
we  to  charge  it  upon  Him  who  "made  man  to  walk 
"uprightly;"  and  it  is  manifest  that  whether  the  above 
words  be  inspired,  or  not,  there  must  be  some  way  of 
interpreting  them  less  absurd  than  that.  Let  it  be  ob- 
served, first,  that  they  were  uttered  before  David's  ele- 
vation to  the  throne,  and  before,  therefore,  he  had  been 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  117 

guilty  of  those  flagrant  acts  of  wickedness  which  so 
justly  called  forth  the  rebuke  of  the  prophet. 

But  it  may  be  said,  God  foresaw  what  would  be  his 
course  of  conduct,  and  spoke  of  the  future  with  the 
same  degree  of  knowledge  with  which  we  speak  of  the 
past.  Admitting  that  to  be  so,  I  ask  again,  if  God  can 
both  approve  and  condemn  the  same  act,  at  the  same 
moment  ?  Certain  it  is,  that  by  the  mouth  of  Nathan, 
David  was  rebuked,  and  that  he  was  punished  for  his 
offences.  God  must  then  be  inconsistent  with  Himself, 
and  punish  what  He  approves,  or  those  words  must 
have  some  limitation  of  meaning. 

Let  us  look  at  David's  character  generally,  and  see 
if  there  were  any  thing  particularly  deserving  of  appro- 
bation. We  find,  when  he  was  reproved,  instead  of 
punishing  the  bold  messenger  of  God,  as  doubtless 
might  have  been  in  his  power,  he  submitted  to  his  re- 
buke, with  penitence  for  his  fault.  The  next  best 
thing  to  innocence  is  repentance  ;  and  if  we  cannot  say 
that  David  was  blameless,  we  cannot  but  think  him 
disposed  to  virtue,  though  failing,  like  other  men,  to  be 
perfect. 

Another  thing  which  is  very  striking  in  David's  char- 
acter is  the  union  of  courage  and  firmness,  with  mag- 
nanimity, kindness  and  gentleness,  which  would  be  re- 
markable in  any  body,  but  is  especially  observable  in  a 
successful  soldier.  Notwithstanding  the  many  brutal 
attempts  upon  his  life  by  Saul,  he  refused  to  take  the 
life  of  the  king,  when  in  his  power.  And  how  uncom- 
mon a  proof  of  amiability  is  it,  that  his  dearest  friend 
should   have   been   the   apparent  heir   of  the   throne 


118  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

he  was  himself  to  mount.  There  could  have  been 
neither  guile,  nor  jealousy  in  the  heart  of  either  of 
them.  Then  his  care  for  even  his  profligate  son  Absa- 
lom, and  his  touching  lament  over  his  death,  are  sin- 
gular proofs  of  his  tenderness  of  heart,  strikingly  in 
contrast  with  the  hardness  and  harshness  of  those  about 
him.  It  is  manifest  that  he  was  far  in  advance  of  his 
age,  in  all  that  constitutes  refinement  and  civilization  in 
opposition  to  rude  barbarism. 

But  perhaps  the  most  important  distinction  of  the 
character  of  David,  considering  the  station  he  was  de- 
signated to  fill,  was  the  firmness  with  which  he  adhered, 
under  all  circumstances,  to  the  worship  and  service  of 
the  only  living  and  true  God.  He  was  never,  for  a 
moment,  false  to  his  convictions.  He  was  never  tempt- 
ed,  or  rather,  he  never  yielded  to  the  temptation,  like 
his  renowned  son  Solomon,  to  relapse  into  the  idolatry 
of  the  surrounding  nations  ;  but  he  faithfully  carried  out, 
to  his  latest  hour,  the  design  of  the  Almighty  to  per- 
petuate the  knowledge  of  His  character  in  the  world. 
It  was  for  this  that  the  nation  was  selected,  and  estab- 
lished in  Canaan  ;  and  it  was  in  this  respect  that  it  may 
with  truth  be  said  of  David  that  "  he  fulfilled  all  God's 
will."*  Why  should  he  not,  then,  be  called  a  man 
after  God's  own  heart  ?  If  he  had  not  sinned,  he  would 
not  have  been  a  man ;  and  if  his  sin  were  great,  so 
were  his  tempting  opportunities  ;    but  if  he  repented, 

*  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  understand  fully  the  temptation  to  idolatry  in  those 
days,  it  seems  now  so  very  absurd.  We  can  perceive,  however,  the  power  of 
example,  and  fashion,  and  ridicule  ;  and  doubtless  all  were  combined  to  influ- 
ence the  Hebrews.  At  all  events,  the  inducements  to  idolatry  must  have  been 
Strong,  if  such  a  mind  aa  Solomon's  wtre  seduced  by  them. 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  119 

and  sinned  no  more ;  if  he  were  kind  and  forgiving 
even  to  an  enemy,  if  he  were  faithful  and  true,  if  he 
were  well  fitted  to  lead  on  his  people  in  the  paths  of 
civilization,  by  the  cultivation  of  the  talents  and  dispo- 
sitions God  had  given  him,  and,  above  all,  if  he  were 
able  and  willing  to  devote  himself  to  the  preservation 
of  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  Jehovah,  the  very 
object  of  the  national  existence,  methinks  it  is  no  great 
stretch  of  the  language  of  hyperbole,  to  represent  him 
as  a  favorite  of  the  Almighty. 

Thus,  with  rational  limitations,  and  taking  into  view 
the  Oriental  looseness  of  expression,  the  language  in 
question  is  true  and  proper.  With  any  other  interpre- 
tation, it  is  false  and  dangerous.  Exercise  your  under- 
standing, therefore,  with  greater  care,  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible  than  in  that  of  any  other  book,  for  it 
is  of  more  importance  than  any  other ;  and  adopt  as 
your  fundamental  rule,  never  to  attribute  falsehood  or 
folly  to  a  sacred  writer,  if  by  thought,  or  study,  you 
can  find  a  rational  meaning. 

The  next  book  in  the  order  of  succession  is  the 
Proverbs  of  Solomon ;  a  collection  of  pithy,  senten* 
tious  observations  upon  human  life  and  character,  inter- 
mingled with  urgent  exhortations  to  virtue,  and  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  God.  This  terse  and  somewhat 
disconnected  style  of  writing  has,  in  all  ages,  been  a 
favorite  one  with  eastern  nations,  and  continues  to  be 
so  at  this  day.  It  affords  facilities  to  the  memory, 
which  are  valuable  when  the  arts  of  writing  and  reading 
are  of  rare  attainment ;  and  there  is  something  in  it  pe- 
culiarly striking  to  the  unlettered  person,  who  sees  new 


120  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

meaning  drawn  out  of  words  that  he  uses  every  day, 
but  has  never  associated  in  that  wonderful  order.  It 
is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  author  of  so  many 
of  these  strongly  marked  phrases  should  have  acquired 
and  maintained  a  high  reputation  for  wisdom,  among  a 
a  race  of  men  who  particularly  delight  in  brief  expres- 
sions of  thought.  And  we  may  remark  that  one  of 
the  most  common  epithets  applied  to  a  poet  of  any  re- 
nown in  the  east,  is  wise  or  sage.  "What  saith  the 
"sage  Locman?"  "Thus  the  wise  Saadi,"  are 
habitual  modes  of  quotation  in  Persia  ;  and  as  Solomon 
far  surpassed  all  other  eastern  poets  in  the  number  of 
his  proverbs,  it  is  natural  that  he  should  be  accounted 
the  wisest  of  men.  But  to  this  fact  is  to  be  added 
another,  which  serves  to  give  and  to  prolong  his  repu- 
tation among  all  men,  and  that  is,  that  these  proverbs 
are,  in  truth,  the  result  and  the  expression  of  deep 
thought,  wide  observation  and  profound  reflection.  It 
would  be  happy  for  us,  if,  in  most  of  the  important 
transactions  of  Hfe,  these  well  considered  maxims  were 
present  to  our  memory.  They  would  save  us  from 
many  a  worldly  embarrassment,  and  from  that  which  is 
far  worse,  many  a  bold,  or  heedless  offence. 

The  peculiarity,  to  which  I  have  more  than  once 
called  your  attention,  for  which  the  Hebrew  writings 
are  distinguished,  is  especially  observable  in  this  book, 
viz :  the  constant  reference  to  virtue  and  obedience  to 
God  as  the  source  of  prosperity  and  happiness.  Wis- 
dom means,  in  Solomon's  writings,  not  merely  a  strong, 
sagacious  understanding,  but  good  principles,  integrity, 
rehgious   obedience.     "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  121 

^'beginning  of  wisdom."  ''  The  fear  of  {he  Lord  is 
"  the  instruction  of  wisdom."  "  The  path  of  the  just 
''is  as  the  shining  hght,  that  shineth  more  and  more 
"  unto  the  perfect  day.  The  way  of  the  wicked  is  as 
"  darkness."  And  so  through  the  whole  book.  Vir- 
tue, uprightness,  and  purity  are  always  represented  as 
true  wisdom,  as  indeed  they  are.  But  how  difierent 
are  these  views  from  those  which  commonly  prevail  in 
the  world.  Success,  without  regard  to  the  character 
of  the  means,  is  usually  considered  the  sufficient  proof 
of  wisdom;  and  "when  the  wicked  are  overthrown," 
their  downfall  is  ascribed,  not  to  their  wickedness, 
which  is  its  real  cause,  but  to  their  carelessness,  or 
want  of  shrewdness,  or  some  failure  in  intelligence 
rather  than  integrity.  If  we  look  around  us  we  shall 
see,  not  that  the  good  are  always  successful  in  every 
thing  they  undertake,  but  that  all  the  wisdom  in  the 
world,  without  integrity,  is  not  sufficient  to  insure  per- 
manent success.  Evil  men  may  flourish  for  a  time,  but 
virtue  is  sure  to  come  off  victorious  at  last.  We  are 
apt  to  be  impatient,  and  because  we  cannot  discern  the 
end  from  the  very  beginning,  because  we  see  "the 
"  wicked  in  great  power,"  we  forget  that  "  yet  a  httle 
"  while  and  the  wicked  shall  not  be."  But  the  last  is 
as  sure  as  the  first  event.  And  the  more  distinguished 
and  prominent  is  his  situation  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
the  more  conspicuous  is  his  fall. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  good  man  should  not  be 
endowed  with  much  of  this  world's  skill,  if  his  talents 
be  but  moderate,  yet  he  will  be  found  to  prosper  in  his 

sphere.     vSuccess  in  life  does  not  depend  quite  so  much 
1] 


122  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

upon  our  capacity,  as  we  often  imagine.  What  says 
Solomon  ?  "A  man's  heart  (mind)  deviseth  his  way  ; 
"  but  the  Lord  directeth  his  steps."  This  is  the  truth. 
"  The  Lord  upholdeth  the  righteous," — the  humblest 
as  well  as  the  highest  ;  and  when  men  shall  be  once 
fairly  convinced  of  this,  and  act  accordingly,  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  will  have  come  on  earth ;  the  natural 
calamities  of  this  life  will  be  regarded  in  their  true  light, 
as  means  of  discipline  towards  the  formation  of  char- 
acter, and  will  be  deprived  of  their  bitterness,  and  men 
will  find  the  happiness  of  ''trusting  in  the  Lord." 

I  think  much  of  the  wisdom  of  the  book  of  Proverbs 
ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  father  of  the  writer,  as 
many  of  the  best  and  wisest  maxims  it  contains  are  to 
be  found  also  in  the  Psalms  ;  and  their  repetition  by 
Solomon,  and  others  who  had  some  share  in  the  book 
of  Proverbs,  shows  the  influence  of  David's  composi- 
tions upon  men's  minds,  and  the  extensive  acquaintance 
with  them  prevalent  in  the  nation. 

Ecclesiastes  seems  to  have  been  a  later  production 
of  Solomon,  if  indeed  it  were  written  by  him.  It  is 
not  positively  known  who  was  the  author  of  this  book ; 
but  it  is  commonly  ascribed  to  the  wise  king.  If  it  be 
his  work,  and  written  in  an  advanced  period  of  life,  the 
tone  of  his  mind  must  have  changed  remarkably ;  for 
there  is  a  depression  of  spirits,  a  sort  of  splenetic  dis- 
satisfaction, running  through  it,  which  does  not  har- 
monize well  with  the  just  discriminations  that  are  made 
in  the  Proverbs,  between  the  different  courses  and  end 
of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  nor  with  what  he  calls 
''the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,  Fear  God  and 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  123 

"  keep  His  commandments."  If  every  thing  be  ''  van- 
"  ity  and  vexation  of  spirit," — if  a  man  '*  hath  no  pre- 
''  eminence  above  a  beast," — then  why  trouble  one's 
self  with  obedience  to  the  laws  which  suppose  a  dis- 
tinction between  a  man  and  a  beast  ?  Is  not  the  ques- 
tion just,  *' What  is  the  Almighty,  that  we  should  serve 
"  Him  ?  and  what  profit  should  we  have,  if  we  pray  to 
*'Him?"  No,  these  statements  are  made  altogether 
too  strongly  by  the  Preacher,  in  my  judgment.  He  has 
not  given  the  necessary  qualifications  of  his  general  de- 
nunciations of  the  misery  of  human  life  ;  and  if  the  work 
be  considered  an  argument  for  virtue,  because  every 
thing  else  is  vanity  and  vexation,  even  that  is  an  over- 
statement which  is  entirely  unnecessary.  Nothing 
which  is  untrue  can  be  necessary  for  an  argument  to  a 
good  course  of  conduct ;  and  it  is  essentially  untrue 
that  the  blessings  of  life  are  vanity  and  vexation,  if 
they  be  rightly  used.  I  regard  that  sort  of  extravagant 
condemnation  of  the  goods  of  this  life,  as  a  proof  that 
a  man  has  not  made  a  right  use  of  the  blessings  with 
which  God  has  surrounded  him.  He  has  sought  in 
physical  or  temporary  enjoyments  a  species  of  happi- 
ness which  they  are  not  adapted,  nor  intended,  to  give, 
and  then  condemns  them,  instead  of  himself.  If  he 
wishes  for  "  peace  of  mind  at  the  last,"  let  him  pursue 
the  course  which  he  well  knows  will  procure  it,  and  let 
him  receive  with  thankfulness. the  reasonable  and  lawful 
enjoyments,  which  God  has  placed  along  the  straight 
path,  not  to  detain  us  on  our  way,  but  to  help  us  to 
pursue  it  with  a  cheerful  heart  and  a  willing  mind.  If 
he  will  regard  these  mercies  not  as  objects  and  ends,  but 


124  THE    POETICAL    BOOKS. 

simply  In  their  true  light  of  helps  and  solaces  in  our 
trials  and  difficulties,  he  will  never  despise  them,  nor 
murmur  that  they  do  not  yield  a  perfect  happiness, 
which  neither  they,  nor  the  sum  of  hfe,  if  it  were  all 
made  up  of  such  pleasures,  can  give  us. 

I  am  afraid  Solomon  is  open  to  this  censure.  He 
seems,  with  all  his  wisdom,  to  have  led  a  life  of  splen- 
dor, luxury,  and  self-indulgence,  ill  adapted  to  the  pre- 
servation of  a  right  spirit  within  him  ;  and  we  know  that 
in  his  old  age  he  was  weak  enough  to  abandon  the  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah,  and  offer  sacrifices  to  idols.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  a  man  of  such  habits,  and  verging 
to  such  mournful  imbecihty,  should  have  uttered  these 
violent  and  unreasonable  anathemas  against  the  seeming 
incongruities  and  vexations  of  life ;  and  mingled  all  to- 
gether, pains  and  pleasures,  trials  and  gratifications,  in 
one  sweeping  censure.  But  we  must  read  this  with  a 
knowledge  of  his  character  and  circumstances,  and 
with  due  allowance  for  both,  if  we  would  avoid  being 
misled  by  extravagant  declamation.  With  the  proper 
qualifications,  if  we  will  think  them  out  for  ourselves, 
much  that  is  wise  and  useful  may  be  found  in  this  book  ; 
and  the  last  chapter  contains  as  lofty  poetry,  and  as 
true  religious  wisdom,  as  any  in  the  whole  collection 
of  the  Hebrew  literature. 

I  cannot  say  so  much  for  the  next  production  of 
Solomon,  which  has  been  permitted  to  occupy  a  place 
in  the  Bible,  It  is  simply  a  love-song,  not  superior 
to  many  of  the  kind,  in  other  languages,  nor  of  any 
utility  whatsoever,  that  I  can  discover,  except  of  a  lit- 
erary character.     Its  figures  and  allusions  may  help  us 


THE    POETICAL    BOOKS.  125 

to  understand  other  things  of  the  same  sort.  But  to 
call  it,  in  any  sense,  a  sacred  song,  or  to  claim  for  it 
an  inspired  character,  is,  to  me,  only  offensive.  A 
figurative  and  prophetic  meaning  has  indeed  been  as- 
signed to  it,  but  without  the  slightest  external  authority, 
or  internal  evidence  ;  and  that  it  should  ever  have  been 
included  among  writings  considered  holy,  must  be  re^ 
garded  as  one  of  the  numerous  misfortunes  which  have 
happened  to  the  Bible,  in  the  hands  of  the  unenlight? 
ened. 


11* 


126  THE  PROPHETIC  BOOKS* 


CHAPTER  IX.   THE  PROPHETIC  BOOKS. 


We  have  now  come  to  the  portion  of  the  Scriptures 
which  contains  by  far  the  greatest  amount  of  difficulties, 
as  well  in  number  as  in  weight.     This  you  will  readily 
perceive  upon  the  bare  enumeration  of  those  which  we 
have  to  encounter  in  the  prophetic  books.     In  addition 
to  those  which  are  common  to  all  the  other  books  in 
the  Bible,  arising  from  the  original  obscurity  of  the  lan« 
guage  in  which  they  are  written,  and  the  imperfect  ac- 
quaintance of  the  best  scholars  with  its  meaning,  we 
have  that  which  arises   from  the  mixed  character  of 
these  particular  writings,  partaking  of  the  poetic,  his- 
toric, prophetic  and  didactic  forms  of  composition.     It 
is  not  easy  to  discover  which  of  these  characters  the 
writer  intended  to  adopt ;  for,  sometimes,  what  is  com- 
monly understood  as  prophecy — as  the  53d  chapter  of 
Isaiah,  for  instance,  which  very  beautifully  and  touch- 
ingly  describes  the  character,  and  some  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  hfe  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ — is  in  the 
narrative  form ;   while  there  are  many  passages,  like 
the  last  four  verses  of  the  14th  chapter  of  Isaiah,  which, 
under  the  form  of  prediction,  seem  to  prophecy  noth- 
ing, and  may  be  merely  descriptive.     It  is  extremely 
difficult,  sometimes,  perhaps,  impossible,  to  discern  the 
limits  between  poetry  and  prophecy,  when  the  form  of 
prophecy  is  assumed,  and  when  in  truth  it  may  have 
been  prophecy,  the  fulfilment  of  which  is  lost  to  us,  in 


THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS.  127 

the  thick  obscurity  of  the  history  of  eastern  nations  in 
those  remote  times.  And  when  to  all  these  natural 
sources  of  uncertainty  is  added  the  multitude  of  systems 
of  interpretation  by  which  men's  minds  have  been  con- 
fused, you  will  not  wonder  that  there  should  be  a  great 
accumulation  of  difficulties  in  the  understanding  of 
these  books.  One  of  the  difficulties  of  the  last  kind 
consists  in  the  great  number  of  unwarrantable  glosses 
which  have  been  put  on  the  prophecies  by  the  headings 
of  the  chapters  in  our  common  editions  of  the  Bible. 
Great  perversions  of  the  meaning  of  the  author  are 
sometimes  the  consequence  of  these  captions,  and  it  is 
not  a  little  difficult  to  throw  off  the  impressions  they 
convey. 

Under  the  pressure  of  all  these  embarrassments, 
there  is  one  counsel  I  think  it  especially  important  to 
give,  and  that  is,  that  you  do  not  suffer  yourself  to  in- 
dulge your  imagination,  nor  to  follow  the  guidance  of 
the  imagination  of  any  one  else,  in  putting  interpreta- 
tions upon  these  obscure  works.  Get  clear  and  defi- 
nite ideas  in  relation  to  any  and  all  parts  of  them, 
whenever  you  can,  but  do  not  lightly  think  that  you 
have  hit  upon  a  true  interpretation,  which  has  escaped 
every  body  else.  Such  things  do  not  happen  by 
chance.  Patient  study  is  necessary,  even  to  put  one's 
self  in  the  way  of  understanding  obscurities.  It  is  of  no 
use  to  do,  as  many  are  fond  of  doing  in  reading  such 
books,  put  a  vague,  indefinite  construction  upon  lan- 
guage which  is  itself  indefinite.  Suffer  it  to  remain  in 
its  original  obscurity,  rather  than  bury  it  in  )'Our  own 
mind,  under  another  pile  of  ill  understood  words.    One 


128  THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS. 

has  no  right  to  guess  at  the  meaning  of  these  books. 
If  they  are  to  be  interpreted  at  all,  it  must  be  by  means 
of  close  apphcation,  and  with  some  reasonable  proof  of 
the  probability  of  the  interpretation.  These  rules  will 
enable  you  to  judge  of  the  correctness  of  what  you  may 
discover  in  others,  or  think  you  may  discover  your- 
selves. 

To  some  minds,  the  proof  of  the  divine  revelation  of 
Christianity  derived  from  prophecy,  seems  the  strong- 
est ;  and  it  is  from  their  bearing  upon  this  subsequent 
revelation  that  these  Vv  orks  derive  much  of  their  impor- 
tance to  us.  Others  think  that  the  proof  of  a  revelation 
derived  from  miracles,  is  not  only  the  most  important, 
but  is  indispensable  to  the  establishment  of  a  claim  to 
a  divine  origin ;  while  it  will  also  be  in  itself  sufficient, 
without  the  additional  miracle  of  prophecy,  in  relation 
to  it.  Undoubtedly  a  distinct  prophecy  is  as  much  a 
miracle  as  restoring  sight  to  the  blind.  I  can  no  more 
foresee  what  is  to  take  place  five  hundred  years  hence, 
or  to-morrow,  than  I  can  heal  the  sick,  or  clothe  the 
naked,  by  a  word ;  it  is,  therefore,  a  good  and  strong 
proof  of  divine  authority,  and  is  appealed  to,  as  such, 
by  our  Saviour  himself.  But  thai  it  is  not  of  itself 
enough,  or  as  much  as  we  have  reason  to  expect,  is 
also  proved  by  the  fact  that  Christ  and  the  apostles 
wrought  miracles,  and  appealed  first  and  principally  to 
them,  whenever  there  was  a  serious  question  of  their 
authority. 

And  when  we  think  of  some  of  the  circumstances 
attendant  on  the  nature  of  prophecy,  we  shall  not  be 
surprised  that  it  should  not  be  considered  as  the  highest 


THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS.  129 

proof  of  a  divine  commission.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
so  difEcult  and  so  rare  to  perceive  its  true  character 
before  it  is  fulfilled,  that  it  clearly  amounts  to  httle  to 
those  who  live  before  its  completion.  Men  may  see 
that  something  is  foretold,  but  they  can  have  few  clear 
ideas  concerning  it.  So  true  is  this,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  many  passages  in  the  prophets  announcing  the 
spiritual  nature  of  Christ's  kingdom,  as  we  now  beheve, 
the  Jews  have  never  understood  that  fact  in  the  least; 
but  to  this  hour  they  suppose  they  are  to  have  a  tem- 
poral Messiah,  who  is  to  raise  them  to  that  state  of 
glorious  superiority  they  so  much  covet,  when  "  the 
"nation  and  kingdom  that  will  not  serve  them  shall 
"perish." 

And  even  after  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  there  is 
so  much  of  doubt  attending  upon  the  proof,  that  it  is, 
or  may  be,  a  subject  of  discussion  and  uncertainty, 
among  those  who  are  best  disposed,  as  to  its  applica- 
tion. The  language  of  prophecy  is  indefinite,  and  is 
not,  I  apprehend,  designed  to  point  out  future  facts 
with  that  perfect  distinctness,  which  will  render  its  ap- 
plicption  necessary,  and  this  proof  of  divine  interposi- 
tion indisputable.  It  seems  to  be  the  design  of  Provi- 
dence to  leave  something,  under  all  circumstances,  to 
men's  judgment  and  reason,  faculties  which,  to  a  great 
extent,  are  in  their  own  keeping,  and  for  the  use  of 
which  they  are  responsible.  "  If  a  man  will  do  his 
"  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of 
"  God,  or  w^hether  I  speak  of  myself,"  says  our  Sav- 
iour ;  i.  e.  if  a  man  will  conscientiously  use  his  facul- 
ties, and  keep  them,  by  proper  habits,  in  a  fit  condition 


130  THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS. 

to  be  used,  he  will  find  little  difficulty  in  ascertaining 
the  truth  with  regard  to  the  essentials  of  religion, 
whether  natural  or  revealed ;  and  he  will  know,  or  be 
firmly  persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  that  prophecy  and 
miracle,  and  internal  character,  all  go  to  make  up  the 
abundant  and  harmonious  proof  of  divine  revelation, 
and  the  interposition  of  God  in  the  affairs  of  men. 

There  are  passages,  in  these  books,  of  the  prophetic 
character  of  which  I  entertain  no  doubt,  especially 
those  referring  to  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  the 
effects  of  Christianity,  many  of  which  are  yet  to  be 
fulfilled.  But  there  are  others,  the  apphcation  of 
which  I  do  not  understand,  from  want  of  acquaintance, 
perhaps,  with  the  history  of  the  times  to  which  they 
refer ;  and  many,  of  which  I  have  never  seen  any  satis- 
factory explanation.  But  I  can  read  these  authors 
with  the  deepest  interest  and  with  profit,  notwithstand- 
ing my  occasional  ignorance  of  their  meaning,  and  with 
the  highest  admiration  of  their  subhme  virtue  and  ex- 
alted minds.  When,  or  where,  were  there  men  of 
higher  intellects,  or  courage,  or  integrity,  than  Isaiah 
and  Daniel  ?  Who  ever  exhibited  greater  purity  and 
zeal  for  the  right,  than  all  of  them  ?  And  where  can 
we  find  any  writings  that  contain  more  of  the  spirit  of 
religion,  or  of  the  essence  of  morahty,  or  of  the  exal- 
tation of  poetry  ?  They  have  been  and  are  a  perfect 
storehouse  of  sublime  thought  to  all  succeeding  genera- 
tions of  authors,  whether  in  poetry,  morals,  or  religion  ; 
and  there  is  not  a  language  of  Europe  that  is  not  en- 
riched by  the  imagery,  the  fervor  and  enthusiasm  of 
these  extraordinary  men  and  writers.     In  them  is  found 


THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS.  131 

the  same  characteristic  tone  which  pervades  all  the 
other  works  in  the  Bible,  viz  :  a  constant  inculcation 
of  virtue,  and  warning  against  vice.  They  are  per- 
petually counselling  and  urging  their  countrymen  to 
avoid  idolatry  and  wickedness,  to  fear  and  serve  God ; 
and  if  bold  denunciation,  and  threatening,  or  ardent 
exhortation,  could  produce  any  effect  upon  men's 
minds,  it  must  have  been  produced,  and  must  still  be 
produced  by  theirs.  There  is  nothing  like  it  any 
where  else,  and  it  is  scarcely  probable  there  ever  will 
be  any  thing  like  it  again. 

Think,  for  a  moment,  of  what  would  be  the  effect 
upon  the  world,  if  all  the  writings  we  have  been  con- 
sidering were  blotted  out  of  existence — that  there  were 
no  more  an  Old  Testament.  Would  not  the  loss  be 
irreparable  ?  Would  they  not  be  well  saved,  if  that 
could  be  done,  by  the  loss  of  any  hterature,  the  rich- 
est, of  ancient  or  modern  times  ?  And  then,  again, 
think  of  what  would  be  the  condition  of  the  world  if 
these  writings  had  never  existed.  If  there  had  been 
no  Judaism,  there  could  probably  have  been  no  Chris- 
tiani^^y ;  and  we  should  have  been,  perhaps,  idolaters 
and  uncivilized,  or  to  speak  more  properly,  we,  as  we 
now  are,  could  not  have  existed  at  all ;  and  there 
would  have  been  nothing  in  the  world  but  barbarism 
and  heathenism. 

Let  us  thank  God,  then,  for  these  books,  which 
have  been,  in  His  providence,  such  immensely  power- 
ful agents  in  the  introduction  of  all  the  greatest  bless- 
ings we  enjoy,  in  the  shape  of  religion  and  civilization. 
Let  us  never  think  or  speak  of  them  but  with  the  res- 


132  THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS. 

pect  and  attachment  which  are  their  due  ;  and  while 
we  avoid  any  thing  hke  a  superstitious  reverence  for 
them,  let  us  regard  them,  as  they  are  in  truth,  as  among 
the  productions  of  the  best  minds  and  the  best  hearts 
that  have  ever  lived. 

There  is  a  mode  of  speaking  of  these  writers,  much 
in  vogue  with  those  who  think  highly  of  themselves,  and 
are  disposed  to  question  the  merit  of  any  thing  that 
did  not  originate  with  them,  which  is  calculated  to 
diminish  the  respect  in  which  they  ought  to  be  held. 
They  had  the  good  fortune,  it  is  said,  to  be  the  earliest 
writers,  and  of  course  they  had  the  opportunity  to  say 
first  what  others  might  have  said  as  well  or  better  than 
they.  Some  have  even  professed  that  they  thought 
themselves  capable  of  making  a  better  revelation  of 
God's  will  than  Moses,  or  than  Jesus  Christ  himself. 
For  my  part,  I  cao  only  say  I  am  glad  it  was  not  left 
to  persons  who  think  so  much  more  highly  of  them^ 
selves  than  they  ought  to  think,  to  declare  the  counsels 
of  the  Almighty ;  nor  do  I  believe  there  is  any  truth  in 
the  insinuation  that  the  earliest  writers  are  the  best,  or 
most  striking.  In  every  literature  there  is  a  period  of 
growth,  and  the  first  authors,  if  they  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  saying  the  best  things,  very  rarely  used  it.  Cer- 
tainly the  earliest  writers  on  religion  and  duty, were  so 
far  from  being  the  best,  in  other  nations  and  languages, 
that  they  are  positively  the  worst  and  most  absurd. 
Nowhere  is  there  an  instance,  except  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue,  of  truth,  with  regard  to  the  character  of  God, 
and  the  duty  of  man,  being  clearly  developed,  and  fully 
enforced  by  the  very  first  known  writer.     This  is  a 


THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS.  133 

fact  to  be  accounted  for.  It  cannot  be  kept  out  of 
sight,  disguised,  or  denied.  It  stands  prominent  and 
pre-eminent  in  the  history  of  the  world ;  and  it  has 
never  yet  been  accounted  for,  nor  has  even  an  attempt 
been  made  to  account  for  it,  nor  would  the  attempt,  if 
made,  be  successful,  in  my  opinion,  without  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  interposition  of  God.  All  the 
rest  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  and  of  the  Hebrew  his- 
tory, is  in  perfect  harmony  with  their  outset,  and  would 
be  utterly  unintelligible  and  strange  but  upon  the  sup- 
position of  the  truth  of  the  whole.  I  do  not  mean  the 
truth  of  every  word,  or  of  every  minute  fact  asserted, 
but  the  general  truth  of  the  whole,  as  it  would  be 
understood  by  any  rational  interpreter.  It  is  all  well 
connected,  if  true ;  if  not,  it  is  a  strange  jumble  of  in* 
consistencies  of  character;  of  men  preaching  virtue 
and  integrity  and  truth,  with  the  most  outrageous  false- 
hoods in  their  mouths  ;  and  proclaiming  the  most  sub- 
lime doctrines  in  the  most  sublime  manner,  and  volun- 
tarily renouncing  the  fame  to  which  they  would  be  en- 
titled, if  those  doctrines  were  their  own  invention,  and 
ascribing  all  to  a  higher,  omniscient  and  almighty  power. 

Men  of  such  minds  and  characters  do  not  lie.  It  is 
the  intriguing,  narrow-minded,  or  selfish  person,  who 
attempts  impositions  upon  the  world ;  and  in  general, 
I  know  not  why  I  should  not  say  universally,  the  at- 
tempt is  discovered,  and  ultimately  fails. 

Bui  how  do  you  know,  says  the  objector,  that  it  will 
not  yet  be  discovered  with  regard  to  Moses  and  Christ  ? 
I  have  tried  to  give  you,  in  the  preceding  pages,  some 
of  the  reasons  why  I  believe  it  will  not ;  and  to  these 

12 


134  THE    PROPHETIC    BOOKS. 

I  will  only  add  that  I  cannot  imagine  either  Judaism  or 
Christianity  to  go  through  more  thorough  investigation, 
or  more  severe  trials  of  every  description  than  they 
have  already  endured  unshaken.  The  wisest  and  clear- 
est and  most  logical  minds  have  been  convinced  by  the 
evidence  in  their  favor,  and  I  am  ready  to  rest  upon  it 
with  entire  faith,  till  I  see  some  more  satisfactory  ar- 
gument than  I  have  ever  yet  met  with  against  their 
truth. 

I  do  not  go  at  all  into  detail  on  the  particular  difficul- 
ties which  occur  to  ingenuous  minds,  or  which  have 
been  started  by  disingenuous  ones.  My  object  is 
merely  to  point  out  those  general  principles  and  feel- 
ings which  ought  to  guide  you  in  particular  researches, 
and  to  put  you  in  the  way  of  finding  out  the  truth  for 
yourselves.  The  best  mode  of  doing  this  is  to  keep 
yourselves  free  from  moral  bias,  which  is  vice,  and 
from  intellectual  bias,  which  is  prejudice,  and  then 
diligently  ''search  the  scriptures." 


NEW    TESTAMENT. 


Here  the  Redeemer's  welcome  voice 
Spreads  heavenly  peace  around, 

And  life  and  everlasting  joys 
Attend  the  blissful  sound. 


12* 


CHAPTER    X. 
PRELIMINARY    REMARKS    ON    THE    NEW  TESTAMENT, 

There  was  a  period  of  about  four  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  from  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem 
to  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  of  which  we  have  no  de- 
tailed history.  A  single  fragment  of  the  Apocrypha 
contains  an  account  of  the  partial  and  fruitless  war  be^ 
tween  the  Maccabees,  and  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  one 
of  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great ;  and  then 
we  have  nothing  more  to  illustrate  the  condition  of  the 
Jews,  till  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  when  we  find  theni 
in  the  same  subjection  to  Roman  power,  in  which  the 
rest  of  the  then  civihzed  world  is  known  to  have  been, 

They  were  divided  into  several  parts ;  the  Jews,  so 
called,  probably,  as  being  or  claiming  to  be,  the  poster-: 
ity  of  Judah,  having  possession  of  Jerusalem,  and  the 
southern  and  northern  extremities  of  Canaan,  and  the 
Samaritans  occupying  a  district  lying  between  these 
two  tracts  of  country.  They  were  no  longer  two  kingr 
doms,  nor  were  they  even  entirely  distinct  provinces  of 
the  empire ;  but  neighbors  and  brethren  as  they  were, 


140  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

there  was  a  reciprocal  dislike  between  the  Jews  and 
Samaritans,  amounting  to  antipathy,  and  a  suspension 
of  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  life,  as  between  hostile 
powders.  The  worship  of  Jehovah  w^as  maintained 
both  at  Jerusalem,  and  Mount  Gerizim,  with  such 
solemnity,  and  pomp,  and  purity,  as  the  degraded,  and 
subjugated,  and  despised  people  could  command ;  but 
the  frequent  lamentations  over  the  difference  between 
the  former  and  the  latter  temple  sufficiently  indicate  the 
fallen  state  of  the  nation. 

This  condition  of  things,  w^hich  had  been  of  long 
continuance,  gave  an  impatient  eagerness  to  their  hopes 
of  the  birth  of  one  who  was  to  be  their  leader  to  glory, 
conquest  and  power ;  one  who,  like  Moses,  was  to 
rescue  them  from  the  iron  grasp  of  a  power  they  feared 
and  hated,  in  the  hands  of  a  people  for  whom  they  felt 
the  contempt  which  was  reciprocated  towards  them  by 
the  Romans.  There  are  many  passages  in  the  prophets 
which  were  supposed  by  the  Jews  to  describe  the  glo- 
ry of  the  Messiah's  kingdom  in  such  terms  as,  if  taken 
by  themselves,  might,  without  violence,  be  understood 
to  refer  to  temporal  splendor.  Annoyed  and  oppressed 
as  they  had  been  for  many  ages,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
they  should  have  so  interpreted  such  passages ;  nor 
that,  as  generation  after  generation  passed  away,  their 
expectation  and  hope  of  such  a  political  saviour  should 
have  become  more  and  more  ardent,  till  they  reached 
an  intensity  of  fervor.  It  would  be  considered  at  once 
a  political  and  a  rehgious  duty  to  believe  in  the  coming 
of  one  who  was  to  reheve  them  from  all  their  distresses, 
and  guide  them  to  a  condition  the  very  reverse  of  that 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  141 

which  they  actually  occupied.  How  was  the  Messiah 
to  resemble  Moses,  if  he  did  not  liberate  them  from 
bondage,  if  he  did  not  estabhsh  them  in  independence, 
and  make  other  nations  serve  them  r 

This  must  be  fully  understood  and  appreciated,  in 
order  that  we  may  at  all  comprehend  the  extraordinary 
fury  exhibited  by  the  Jews  against  Jesus  Christ.  What 
was  there  in  his  character,  or  conduct,  to  excite  such 
deadly  hatred  ?  How  could  any  body  so  persecute  the 
mildest,  kindest  and  purest  being  ever  seen  on  earth, 
one  who  went  about  doing  good,  injuring  none — even 
of  those  who  would  have  stoned  him,  and  who  did,  at 
last,  kill  him  with  torture  and  ignominy, — who  spake  as 
never  man  spake,  and  whose  miracles  were  uniformly 
for  the  most  beneficent  purposes  ? 

Such  a  feeling  is  not  only  shocking,  but  it  is  out  of 
nature  ;  it  is  not  to  be  accounted  for  on  any  other 
principle  than  that  it  was  the  outbreak  of  their  sudden 
and  terrible  disappointment.  Here  was  a  man  whom 
many  began  to  think  must  be  the  Messiah,  from  the 
miracles  they  saw  him  perform  ;  and  what  does  he  do  ? 
Instead  of  raising  his  standard  and  beginning  a  rebel- 
lion,  or  like  Moses,  performing  miracles  for  the  hbera- 
tion  of  his  countrymen,  he  goes  about  preaching  peace, 
humility  and  forgiveness  of  injuries,  the  very  reverse  of 
the  proud  and  military  spirit  which  they  had  secretly 
nourished  in  the  midst  of  all  their  humiliation  and  sub- 
jection. The  miracles  he  performed,  if  they  did  not 
convince  them  that  he  was  the  Messiah,  as  was  some* 
times  the  case,  only  provoked  them  to  anger  and  vio^ 
fence.     They  were  either  ready  to  seize  him  by  force, 


142  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

and  compel  bim  to  act  as  ihey  supposed  the  Messiah 
ought  to  act,  or  else  they  would  beseech  him  to  depart 
out  of  their  coasts,  and  relieve  them  from  all  contro- 
versy about  claims  they  would  not  admit,  and  could 
not  deny. 

For  what,  then,  you  may  ask,  was  all  this  prepara- 
tion ?  Here  wtiS  a  nation  set  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  for  the  very  purpose  of  establishing  and  preserv- 
ing the  knowledge  of  God ;  and  in  due  time  of  extend- 
mg  it  to  the  whole  human  race.  Here  was  prophe- 
cy upon  prophecy  relating  to  the  Messiah,  from  the 
days  of  Abraham  to  those  of  Ezra,  and  yet  the  people 
among  whom  he  was  to  appear  were  not,  after  all,  pre- 
pared for  him ;  they  did  not  understand  him,  nor  his 
object;  they  resisted,  persecuted,  and  murdered  him; 
and,  with  the  firmness  for  which  they  were  always  re- 
markable, they  continue  in  the  same  resistance  to  this 
day.  D(5es  not  this  look  as  if  the  arrangements  of  the 
Almighty  were  ineffectual — as  if  he  had  intended  to 
produce  a  certain  effect,  and  failed  to  do  so  ? 

If  we  suppose  that  God  designed  to  introduce  the 
Messiah  to  splendor  and  power  in  this  world,  then,  in- 
deed, there  might  be  ground  for  such  a  question.  But, 
if  the  object  were  to  introduce  and  extend  the  influ- 
ence of  pure  religion  and  religious  truth,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  leave  men  to  that  exercise  of  their  own 
wills  and  judgments  which  they  ordinarily  enjoy ;  to 
present  to  them  a  system  in  perfect  harmony  with  all 
that  had  preceded  it,  and  allow  them  to  accept  or  re- 
ject it,  according  to  their  own  judgment  and  pleasure ; 
then  I  think  the  plan  has  succeeded,  as  far  as  we  can 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  143 

ever  distinctly  see  the  success  of  God's  works  and 
ways.  We  are  so  short-lived,  so  short-sighted,  and  so 
impatient,  that  we  are  rarely  willing  to  acknowledge 
His  hand,  except  in  its  sudden,  quick  movements  ;  and 
we  are  very  apt  to  require  omnipotence  to  work  in  the 
same  rapid  way  in  which  we  wish  to  produce  effects 
ourselves.  But  I  see  Christianity  introduced  into  the 
world,  and  gradually  extending  its  beneficent  influence; 
I  see  it  produced  with  proofs  of  divine  agency,  and  I 
am  satisfied  of  its  divine  origin,  although  the  whole 
world  was  not  at  once  converted,  and  great  part  of  it 
is  still  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism.  God  has  eter- 
nity to  operate  in,  and  all  the  time  past,  since  the  cre- 
ation of  man,  is  short  and  insignificant,  compared  with 
the  duration  to  come.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  too, 
that  human  free  agency  was  not  to  be  entirely  done 
away.  Men  w^ere  not  to  be  compelled  to  become 
Christians,  any  more  than  they  were  to  be  obliged  to 
eat  the  same  food,  or  walk  in  a  particular  direction. 
Their  understandings  were  to  be  left  as  free  on  this 
subject  as  on  others,  and  of  course  it  requires  time  for 
mind  to  operate  upon  mind,  and  extend  the  influence  of 
religious  truth  over  the  world. 

But,  admitting  that  the  plan  of  the  Deity  has  suc- 
ceeded, how  would  it  have  been  if  the  Jews  had  re- 
ceived and  welcomed  their  Messiah  in  his  true  charac- 
ter— had  believed  in  him  and  obeyed  him  ?  This,  ob- 
viously, is  mere  matter  of  conjecture,  but  I  see  no 
reason  for  any  finite  being  adopting  the  conclusion  that 
because  one  course  of  measures  has  succeeded,  there- 
fore another  would  not  have  succeeded.    The  resources 


144  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

of  the  Almighty  are  infinite ;  and  doubtless  the  great 
truths,  taught  by  Jesus  Christ,  might  have  been  as  ef- 
fectually developed  and  enforced,  if  he  had  lived  and 
died  in  peace,  as  if  he  had  suffered  all  which  actually 
befel  him. 

But  this  is  an  unnecessary  hypothesis.  All  that  is 
important  is,  to  show  that  there  is  nothing  inconsistent 
with  divine  perfection  either  in  the  rehgion,  or  the  mode 
of  its  establishment  and  propagation.  Observe  that  I 
say,  1st,  that  the  rehgion  itself,  i.  e.  its  doctrines,  and 
precepts,  and  sanctions  ;  and,  2dly,  that  the  mode  of  its 
estabhshment  and  propagation,  must  be  consistent  with 
the  divine  character,  in  order  to  my  conviction  of  its 
authority.  There  are  those  who  require  but  the  half 
of  the  above  terms,  to  be  satisfied.  One  man  will  tell 
you  the  character  of  the  rehgion  itself  is  quite  enough ; 
that  no  external  proof  can  add  strength  to  the  internal 
evidence ;  and  that  he  believes  in  it  because  it  is  in 
conformity  with  his  own  nature,  which  he  feels  and 
knows  to  be  of  divine  origin.  This  man  confounds 
possibility  with  authority.  I  must  know  something 
more  of  a  doctrine,  than  that  it  harmonizes  with  hu- 
man nature,  before  I  can  believe  God  has  revealed  it. 
If  the  doctrine  be  new  to  me,  like  that  of  the  future 
life,  I  may  see  that  it  is  not  inconsistent  with  my  na- 
ture, and  therefore  is  not  impossible,  as  it  would  be  if 
it  were  inconsistent  with  my  nature.  But  who  shall 
convince  me  that  it  is  not  only  possible,  but  true,  cer- 
tain, divinely  revealed  ?  He,  only,  who  proves  him- 
self by  miracles,  to  be  a  messenger  from  God.  And 
he  who  goes  so  far  as  to  reject  all  behef  in  miracles, 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  145 

rejects,  in  my  judgment,  an  essential  part  of  the  proof 
of  Christianity ;  and  however  he  may  agree  to  the  doc- 
trines, he  receives  them  on  no  authority  higher  than  his 
own  judgment  of  their  nature  and  truth,  and  therefore 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  belong  to  the  rehgion  he  pro- 
fesses. Its  divine  authority  is  an  essential  ingredient 
in  its  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who  think  mira- 
cles can  prove  any  thing,  and  require  us  to  believe  ab- 
surdities, because,  say  they,  those  things  which  you  call 
absurdities  are  in  the  Bible,  and  are  sustained  by  mira- 
cles. Besides  the  answer  I  gave  before  to  this  reason- 
ing— that  we  have  no  right  to  impute  absurdity  to  a 
rational  author,  if  there  be  any  means  of  understanding 
him  to  write  good  sense — I  now  go  further,  and  say 
that  miracles  cannot  prove  falsehoods,  cannot  prove 
that  which  we  know  to  be  inconsistent  with  natural 
right  and  positive  fact.  All  the  miracles  that  could  be 
imagined,  could  not  convince  me,  or  any  other  man, 
that  one  body,  or  one  particle,  could  be  in  two  places 
at  once,  even  if  they  were  wrought  for  this  express 
purpose.  We  should  inevitably  think  them  lying  won- 
ders ;  for  our  conviction  of  the  truth  is  stronger  than 
any  effect  that  seeming  miracles  can  produce.  So,  if 
a  man  should  teach  that  a  child  might  lawfully  murder 
his  parent  to  obtain  his  patrimony,  no  wonders  could 
convince  us  of  the  propriety  of  a  doctrine  which  is 
contrary  to  natural  morals.  Our  conviction  that  God 
is  a  being  of  truth  and  consistency,  would  irresistibly 
lead  us  to  the  result  that  the  seeming  miracle  must  be 
a  deception.     And  in  rude  ages,  or  among  uncultivat- 

13 


146  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

ed  men,  such  inconsistencies  with  nature  have  been 
attributed  to  demons  or  devils,  and  not  to  the  Creator. 

No  apparent  miracles,  then,  can  prove  a  falsehood, 
or  an  absurdity ;  and  I  must  not  be  required  to  beheve 
any  such  thing  on  their  authority.  I  say  apparent  mir- 
acles, because  the  idea  that  real  miracles  can- be  per- 
formed for  any  such  purpose  is  impossible.  I  cannot 
put  the  terms  together.  Real  miracles  come  from  God, 
and  are  consistent  with  His  truth.  And  it  is  this  con- 
sistency between  the  miracles  and  the  doctrines,  upon 
which  1  insist  as  necessary  to  complete  the  proof  of 
revelation.  Neither  can  be  dispensed  with.  The  doc- 
trines must  be  consistent  with  God  and  nature  in  order 
to  be  possible,  and  therefore  susceptible  of  proof;  and 
then  we  require  the  actual  proof,  which  is  miracles. 

In  the  history  of  the  propagation  of  Christianity  in 
the  first  ages,  we  find  this  was  the  course  observed ; 
the  doctrines  were  stated  and  explained,  and  miracles 
were  appealed  to  in  proof ;  and  wherever  there  was  no 
opposition  from  preconceived  opinions,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Jews,  there  was  little  difficulty  in  prevailing. 
The  spread  of  the  religion  was  by  no  means  slow  or 
small,  as  soon  as  it  was  offered  to  the  heathen ;  and  it 
would  continue  to  be  encouraging,  probably,  if  there 
were  now,  as  then,  civilized  and  enlightened  heathen, 
and  if  no  attempts  were  made  to  teach  absurdities  and 
falsehoods  with  the  authority  of  miracles. 

The  state  of  the  world,  at  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  was 
peculiar.  The  whole  of  the  southern  part,  and  much 
that  would  now  be  called  the  north  of  Europe,  a  large 
portion  of  western  Asia,  and  of  northern  Africa,  con- 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  147 

stituting  all  that  region  of  the  globe  which  contained 
inhabitants  in  any  degree  civihzed,  so  far  as  is  known, 
were  under  the  absolnte  government  of  the  Romans,  who 
were  distinguished,  as  you  know,  for  their  active,  vig- 
orous, stern,  and  military  character.  Up  to  this  period 
they  had  been  essentially  a  military  people ;  but,  in  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  they  began  to  feel  not  merely  the 
pleasures  of  a  state  of  peace,  both  at  home  and  abroad — 
pleasures  the  more  striking  because  of  so  rare  occur^- 
rence — but  the  influence  of  the  arts  and  elegances  of 
life.  Wealth,  both  national  and  individual,  began  to 
abound,  and  to  produce  its  usual  effects,  softening,  and 
gradually  enervating  the  character.  One  of  the  cus- 
tomary consequences  of  luxury  and  leisure,  among  those 
who  are  not  altogether  given  up  to  the  pleasures  of 
sense,  is  the  cultivation  of  the  intellectual  accomplish- 
ments, and  an  increased  taste  for  sperulative  st-adies. 
This  tendency  was  strengthened  in  the  Romans  by  the 
prevailing  fashion  of  the  day,  of  reading  the  philosophi- 
cal, poetical,  and  other  productions  of  the  Greeks,  who 
preceded  them  in  these  paths  of  speculation,  and  who 
seem  to  have  held,  at  that  time,  a  similar,  though  still 
more  prominent,  relative  literary  position  to  that  which 
has  been  maintained  by  the  French,  in  our  own  day. 
Acquaintance  with  the  Greek  language  and  literature 
was  universal,  with  those  who  pretended  to  literature  at 
all,  and  this  would,  almost  of  course,  extend  as  far  as 
leisure  and  means  wouid  permit. 

"  The  productions  of  their  own  poets  and  orators  were 
also  beginning  to  be  numerous,  and  it  could  not  fail  to 
h^ve  an  enlightening  and  civilizing  effect  to  be  familiar 


148  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

with  the  writings  of  Virgil,  Horace,  and  Cicero.  The 
moral,  philosophical  and  religious  essays  of  the  latter, 
especially,  would  naturally  and  almost  irresistibly  lead 
the  age  to  reflection  on  those  interesting  topics,  the  end 
and  object  of  life,  the  duties  of  man,  and  the  nature  of 
the  soul,  to  throw  light  on  which  was  the  purpose  of 
Christianity.  And  how  deeply  the  want  of  this  light 
was  felt  by  the  minds  of  that  era,  it  is  impossible  to  read 
their  works  without  perceiving.  How  eagerly  would 
not  Cicero,  with  his  ardent  longing  after  immortality, 
with  his  purity  of  character,  and  clear  understanding — 
an  understanding  brightened  by  constant  use  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  forum,  as  well  as  by  reflection  in  his  study — 
have  seized  upon  the  revelation  by  Jesus  Christ,  if  it 
had  been  offered  to  him.  One  can  hardly  help  lament- 
ing that  he  had  not  an  opportunity  to  examine  the  evi- 
dences of  the  religion,  and  enjoy  its  glorious  truths. 
Many  a  superficial  and  flimsy  argument  of  the  unbe- 
liever would  have  been  anticipated  and  answered  by  his 
brilliant  intellect  and  honest  heart,  and  his  anxious  fears 
and  struggling  hopes  would  have  been  calmed  and  satis- 
fied by  the  certainty  of  a  future  immortal  hfe.  But  it 
were  unwise  and  ungrateful  to  repine.  Christianity 
does  not  lack  able  defenders;  and  Cicero  is,  perhaps, 
as  valuable  to  succeeding  generations,  by  showing  the 
extent  of  the  powers,  and  the  wants  of  unaided  reason, 
as  he  could  have  been  if  he  had  known,  examined  and 
embraced  the  religion  we  profess. 

At  the  very  period  when  men's  minds  were,  more 
than  ever  before,  turned  to  subjects  of  this  nature,  and 
when  there  were  greater  facilities  of  intercomraunica- 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  149 

tion  among  civilized  nations,  from  the  circumstance  of 
their  being  under  one  government,  and  therefore  un-^ 
disturbed  by  war,  and  by  the  use  of  a  common  lan^ 
guage,  familiar  to  all  cultivated  people,  there  appeared 
a  teacher  of  truth  among  a  nation  who  were  of  a  very 
peculiar  character,  very  conveniently  situated  for  the 
dissemination  of  the  new  doctrines,  but  very  little  likely 
to  have  invented  any  such  theories  from  their  natural 
superiority  of  mind,  or  from  any  predisposition  arising 
from  education,  or  habits  of  thought.  All  these,  viz : 
their  education  and  their  prejudices,  were  directly  ad- 
verse to  the  reception  of  tlie  doctrines  of  Christ ;  and 
their  reputation  for  intellectual  resources,  or  cultiva* 
tion,  was  low  among  contemporary  nations.  They 
were  utterly  unprepared  for  the  revelation  which  was 
to  be  made  to  them,  and  through  them  to  the  rest  of 
mankind  ;  while  every  circumstance  in  the  moral,  intel- 
lectual and  pohtical  condition  of  the  world,  elsewhere, 
was  beautifully  and  perfectly  adapted  to  the  reception 
and  extension  of  the  new  doctrines  and  commandments. 
Every  valley  was  exalted,  every  mountain  and  hill  was 
brought  low,  the  crooked  was  made  straight,  and  the 
rough  places  plain,  that  the  glory  of  the  Lord  might 
be  revealed,  and  all  flesh  see  it  together. 

We  cannot  compare  the  advantages  of  this  epoch 
with  those  of  any  succeeding  period,  because  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  has  been  so  deeply  affected  by  the 
introduction  of  Christianity,  that  we  are  totally  unable 
to  imagine  what  would  have  been  the  condition  of 
things  without  it.  But  it  would  be  difficult  to  point 
out  any  preceding  age  so  well  adapted  to   the  promul- 

13* 


150  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

gation  of  religious  truth  as  that  of  the  birth  of  our  Sa- 
viour. In  the  unceasing  and  savage  wars  of  earher 
times,  the  voice  of  the  rehgion  of  peace  could  not  have 
been  heard  at  all ;  and  in  the  thick  night  of  barbarian 
ignorance,  in  the  uncultivated  desert  of  heathen  indif- 
ference to  intellectual  pursuits,  "  the  voice  of  one  cry- 
"  ing  in  the  wilderness.  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
"  Lord,"  if  heard,  must  have  been  entirely  disregarded. 
It  was  not  till  men's  minds  began  to  be  awakened  to 
the  importance  of  moral  and  religious  truth,  nor  until 
the  utter  fruitlessness  of  all  human  attempts,  by  unaided 
reason,  to  fathom  the  mystery  which  surrounded  them 
on  all  sides,  was  perfectly  proved  by  sufficient  experi- 
ence, that  the  world  could  be  in  a  condition  to  appre- 
ciate or  receive  the  explanation  which  Christ  gave  in 
his  preaching,  life,  death  and  resurrection,  of  the  de- 
sign and  end  of  our  being.  As  soon  as  such  know- 
ledge could  be  received,  it  was  communicated.  At 
any  earher  period  it  would  have  been  with  the  whole 
human  race  as  it  was  with  the  Jew^s,  of  whom  St.  John 
writes — "  The  light  shineth  in  darkness  ;  and  the  dark- 
*'ness  comprehended  it  not."  The  prejudices,  pre- 
conceived opinions  of  the  Jews,  respecting  their  Mes- 
siah, blinded  their  eyes  to  the  truth,  and  they  blindly 
fulfilled  the  purposes  of  the  Almighty ;  and  at  any  ear- 
her point  of  the  history  of  the  world,  the  heathen  would 
have  turned  an  indifferent  ear,  if  they  could  have  been 
induced  to  listen  at  all,  to  the  glad  tidings  of  the  gos- 
pel. It  was  in  "the  fulness  of  time"  that  ''Christ 
"  Jesus  came  into  the  world ;"  and  as  there  is  nothing 
more  completely  beyond  human  power  than  the  desig- 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  151 

nation  of  the  time,  and  the  preparation  of  circumstan- 
ces, for  a  particular  event,  I  can  conceive  of  nothing 
which  ought  to  have  greater  influence  in  leading  us  to 
acknowledge  the  finger  of  God. 

It  was  necessary  not  merely  that  men's  minds  should 
be  prepared  for  attention  to  these  subjects,  by  th^^ir 
own  experience  and  reflection,  and  that  their  physical 
and  political  condition  should  enable  them  to  bestow 
the  requisite  attention,  but  that  there  should  be  an  easy 
and  attractive  mode  of  communication ;  and  this  was 
furnished  by  the  common  and  increasing  use  of  the 
Greek  language.  We  find,  upon  opening  the  New 
Testament,  that  it  is  written,  not  in  Hebrew,  as  the 
previous  compositions  of  the  Jews  were,  and  as  we 
might  expect  from  its  being  still  in  use  as  a  spoken  lan- 
guage in  Judea,  but  in  Greek ;  and  it  is  worth  while  to 
consider,  for  a  moment,  the  great  advantages  derived 
from  the  use  of  this  language  rather  than  the  other. 

The  Hebrew  has  a  very  hmited  vocabulary,  modes 
of  construction  very  different  from  those  of  all  western 
languages,  and  written  signs  of  a  very  inartificial  and 
imperfect  character.  It  was  the  production  and  the 
type  of  an  early  age  of  the  world,  an  age  of  simplicity, 
rudeness  and  strength,  but  without  either  elegance  or 
precision.  The  Greek,  on  the  contrary,  had  a  copious 
vocabulary,  a  beautiful  and  well  understood  construc- 
tion, and  written  signs  which  seem  to  be  as  abundant 
and  accurate  as  the  nature  of  signs  for  articulate  sounds 
permits.  The  productions  of  Hebrew  authors  were 
all,  as  I  have  remarked,  of  one  character,  i.  e.  they 
were  all  of  a  rehgious  nature  and  tendency ;  though 


152  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS 

Other  matters  than  rehgion,  such  as  law,  history,  poet- 
ry, and  secular  wisdom,  are  mingled  in  them,  accord- 
ing to  the  peculiar  inclination  and  talent  of  each  mind. 
But  the  small  number  of  writings,  and  the  limited  va- 
riety of  subjects  on  which  they  w^ere  composed,  render 
the  interpretation  of  the  language  difficult  and  uncer- 
tain ;  while  the  Greek  has  the  great  advantage,  not 
only  of  a  large  vocabulary,  which  gives  it  the  power  of 
expressing  many  ideas  and  shades  of  ideas  that  cannot 
be  conveyed  by  a  language  possessing  a  small  list  of 
words,  but  of  a  great  number  of  authors,  too,  who  have 
left  behind  them  works  on  a  far  greater  variety  of  sub- 
jects than  the  Hebrew  writers.  In  Greek,  we  have 
very  fine  models  of  composition,  in  poetry  of  every 
description,  philosophy,  oratory,  history,  science — in 
short,  on  almost  every  subject  but  that  very  one  on 
which  the  Hebrew  authors  most  abound ;  so  that  the 
meaning  of  their  words  can  be  determined  with  far 
greater  probability  of  accuracy  than  of  those  in  the 
Hebrew  tongue. 

Then  the  beauty  of  style  of  Greek  writers,  the  ele- 
gance of  their  language,  and  the  mingled  simplicity, 
richness,  precision  and  fervor  of  their  thoughts,  render 
it  almost  certain  that,  in  all  ages  and  countries  claiming 
any  high  degree  of  civilization,  the  language  will  be 
studied  by  men  of  refinement  and  cultivation,  for  its 
own  sake.  Indeed,  its  superiority  over  most  other 
languages  is  so  great,  that  it  would  not  be  surprising  if, 
in  the  progress  of  the  revival  which  seems  to  have  be- 
gun in  its  native  land,  it  should  recover  its  hving  voice, 
and  the  predominance  it  maintained  over  other  tongues 


ON    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT.  153 

for  several  centuries.  But,  delightful  and  interesting 
as  such  an  incident  in  the  literary  and  religious  history 
of  the  world  might  be,  it  is  unnecessary  it  should  occur, 
in  order  to  prove  the  great  advantage  of  the  use  of  the 
Greek  in  the  early  ages  of  Christianity.  The  purest 
religion  was  taught,  and  its  history  recorded,  in  the 
most  beautiful  language  which  has  yet  existed  among 
civilized  men ;  and  this  was  one  of  the  means  of  its 
propagation,  as  fast  and  as  far  as  the  civilization  neces- 
sary for  its  reception  had  preceded  it. 

Another  circumstance  which  seems  to  me  worthy  of 
observation,  in  regard  to  the  promulgation  of  Christian- 
ity, is  the  geographical  position  of  its  birth-place.  On 
the  western  confines  of  the  Oriental  half  of  the  world, 
the  men  by  whom  the  religion  was  first  taught  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  habits  of  thought  and  speech  on  both 
sides  of  them.  They  were  familiar,  at  once,  with  the 
eastern  magnificence  and  indefiniteness  of  diction,  and 
with  the  greater  accuracy  of  the  west.  They  knew 
how  to  adapt  themselves,  and  they  were  in  some  de- 
gree compelled  to  adapt  themselves  to  both.  Per- 
fectly acquainted  with  all  the  eastern  poetry  and  modes 
of  hfe,  they  were  obliged  to  write  in  a  language  of 
European  origin,  which  admitted  with  difficulty  of  the 
tropes  and  figures  they  would  probably  have  used  more 
freely  in  their  native  tongue.  Thus  they  felt  as  Orien- 
tals, and  eastern  nations  would  sympathise  with  them ; 
they  wrote  as  Europeans,  and  the  western  world  would 
understand  them. 

You  recollect  I  pointed  out  certain  general  charac- 
teristics of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  of  which 


154  PRELIMINARY    REMARKS,    &c. 

it  is  necessary  to  be  aware  in  perusing  them.  It  is  not 
less  necessary  to  remember  the  pecuhar  origin  of  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  circumstances 
in  the  state  of  the  world  which  have  a  bearing  upon  the 
interpretation  of  them.  It  w^ould  be  impossible  to 
enumerate  all,  without  doing  the  very  thing  I  wish  to 
avoid,  writing  an  elaborate  treatise,  and  I  shall  there- 
fore content  myself  with  just  mentioning,  as  I  have 
done,  some  of  those  which  strike  me  as  important,  in 
the  hope  that  you  will  be  led  to  pursue  these  interest- 
ing studies,  under  the  guidance  of  others,  with  more 
minuteness,  and  that  you  will  derive  benefit  from  hav- 
ing the  relative  bearings  and  distances  of  the  important 
points  laid  down  in  a  general  chart  of  your  course  of 
inquiry. 


THE  GOSPELS.  155 


CHAPTER  XI.   THE  GOSPELS. 


The  first  thing  I  remark,  on  opening  the  New  Tes- 
tament, is  that  there  are  four  memoirs  of  the  same  per- 
son, written  by  different  individuals  ;  two  of  them  eye 
witnesses  of  his  conduct,  and  hsteners  to  his  instruc- 
tions, and  the  others  intimate  friends  and  companions 
of  those  two.  This  is  a  most  extraordinary  amount  of 
independent  testimony  to  the  facts  in  the  case.  The 
circumstance  is  so  famihar  to  us  that  we  do  not  think 
of  it,  and  we  see  them  all  bound  up  together,  and 
imagine  they  are  all  but  one  work.  We  can  perhaps 
attain  a  more  just  perception  of  the  truth,  by  supposing 
ourselves  in  the  position  of  an  intelligent  Roman,  w^ho 
had  recently  heard  something  of  Jesus  Christ,  had  be- 
come interested  in  his  history,  and  in  the  course  of  in- 
quiry finds  one  of  these  memoirs,  that  of  Matthew,  for 
instance.  He  reads  it  with  the  mingled  astonishment 
and  admiration  it  is  adapted  to  produce.  He  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  beheve,  at  once.  Surprise  and 
wonder,  and  a  desire  to  investigate  the  truth  of  this  ex- 
traordinary account  are  the  first  strong  emotions  of  his 
mind.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  he  would  be- 
lieve the  testimony  of  any  respectable  person  to  what 
he  had  himself  seen  and  heard ;  but  additional  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  such  a  story  of  miraculous  power,  and  a 
not  less  miraculous  character,  is  now  the  object  of  his 
eager  pursuit.     After  a  time,  he  finds  Mark's  account 


156  THE    GOSPELS. 

of  the  same  transactions,  and  thus  discovers  another 
person  equally  credible,  and  with  almost  equal  oppor- 
tunities, who  testifies  to  the  very  same  facts.  It  has 
some  appearance  of  being  an  abridgement  of  Matthew's 
book,  it  corresponds  so  remarkably  with  it ;  but  still  it 
is  the  evidence  of  another  contemporary,  if  not  eye 
witness  of  all  the  transactions ;  and  his  doubts  are 
rapidly  giving  way  to  the  increasing  conviction  of  the 
truth. 

The  composition  of  Luke  comes  next  into  his  hands  ; 
and  here  he  finds  not  only  another  writer,  but  a  very 
different  style,  a  different  arrangement  of  the  events 
and  instructions,  a  general  agreement  with  the  others, 
yet  particular  differences  which  mark,  in  the  most  de- 
cided manner,  the  independence  of  the  testimony.  Can 
there  be  any  more  doubt  of  the  truth  ?  The  moral  and 
intellectual  perfection  of  Christ's  character,  as  well  as 
his  miracles,  are  hard  for  him  to  believe.  He  has 
never  heard  of  such  a  man  ;  and  the  prominence  given 
to  the  gentle  virtues  in  all  his  instructions,  and  the  con- 
demnation bestowed  so  unqualifiedly  on  the  haughty 
self-rehance  he  has  been  taught  to  consider  meritorious, 
are  all  the  very  reverse  of  his  previous  notions  ;  but  the 
more  he  reflects  on  the  subjects,  the  more  he  is  con- 
vinced that  Jesus  Christ  is  right,  and  himself  and  his 
philosophical  guides  have  been  wrong. 

And  however  difficult  it  may  be  to  imagine  such  a 
character  as  that  of  Christ  a  reality,  it  is  still  more 
difficult  to  imagine  it  a  fiction.  If  an  invention,  whose 
was  it  ?  Who  was  it  that  had  the  genius  to  describe 
a   character  not  merely  superior   to    any  other  ever 


THE    GOSPELS.  157 

known,  but  so  new,  so  directly  the  reverse  of  all  that 
was  then  esteemed  great  ?  If  several  persons  had  the 
capacity  to  invent  it,  what  could  have  tempted  them  to 
suffer,  and  even  die,  in  attestation  of  its  truth  ?  If  a 
fiction,  why  should  they  have  been  willing  to  go  through 
all  this,  any  more  than  Homer,  for  his  stories  of  Circe 
and  the  Syrens  ?  No,  the  account  must  be  substan- 
tially true,  and  it  deserves  the  name  it  has  received,  of 
"good  news."  It  is  the  best  news  that  has  ever 
reached  the  world,  for  it  explains  all  that  was  perplex- 
ing in  life,  and  satisfies  all  the  aspirations  of  human  na- 
ture. 

When,  afterwards,  our  Roman  sees  the  beautiful 
narrative  of  the  beloved  apostle,  it  is  already  superflu- 
ous as  testimony,  but  it  fills  out  the  picture  of  the  char- 
acter and  teachings  of  Christ  in  such  a  way  that  he  is 
absorbed  in  delight  and  admiration.  He  now  knows 
that  ''  this  was  the  Son  of  God,"  for  that  is  the  only 
name  worthy  of  such  perfection.  He  is  now  a  Chris- 
tian. He  has  evidence  enough  to  justify  and  require 
his  belief  of  the  statements  of  the  writers,  wonderful  as 
they  are.  If  the  facts  are  extraordinary,  so  is  the  proof 
of  them.  There  never  was  an  instance  of  such  an 
amount  of  competent  evidence  being  given  as  to  the 
life,  or  instructions,  of  any  man  known  to  history,  as 
was  the  case  with  Jesus  Christ ;  and  if  any  one  thinks 
that,  notwithstanding  this  fact,  it  cannot  be  a  true  his- 
tory, he  has  the  somewhat  difficult  task  before  him  of 
accounting  for  its  existence  at  all.  What  could  have 
induced  men  to  write  these  books,  to  suffer  and  die 
declaring  their  truth,  if  they  were  fictions  ?     Did  ever 

14 


158  THE    GOSPELS. 

mortal  invent  such  fictions  ?  Did  ever  men  who  were 
writing  fables,  run  counter  to  the  spirit  and  character 
of  their  age,  in  every  important  respect? 

All  impostors  have  flattered  or  exaggerated  the 
spirit  of  the  times,  or  have  beguiled  others  to  their 
own  advantage,  in  some  way ;  but  these  men,  while 
teaching  the  sublimest  and  most  useful  and  delightful 
doctrines,  inculcating  precepts  and  asserting  principles 
which,  if  not  true,  it  would  be  inconceivably  desirable 
should  be  true,  were  so  opposed  to  prejudice  among 
their  own  countrymen,  and  to  the  temper  and  character 
of  the  majority  of  the  world  without,  that  they  were 
necessarily  exposed  to  misrepresentation,  suffering  and 
persecution,  for  which  neither  they  nor  their  followers 
obtained,  or  sought,  the  slightest  compensation  other 
than  the  hopes  and  consolations  arising  from  their  own 
doctrines.  If  this  be  not  inexplicable,  except  upon  the 
supposition  that  they  told  the  truth  as  to  what  they  had 
seen  and  heard,  I  at  least  cannot  imagine  any  thing  to 
be  so. 

It  seems  to  me  a  perfect  ^^reductio  ad  absurdum.'''^ 
Either  these  men  were  mad,  through  much  learning,  or 
much  ignorance,  or  great  stupidity ;  and  if  so,  it  be- 
hoves the  unbeliever  to  show  both  the  fact  and  its  cause, 
or  else  they  stated  truly  what  they  heard  and  saw,  and 
the  doctrines  are  true,  and  the  commandments  are  of 
authority.  This  argument,  though  but  one  among  many 
in  support  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  is  entirely  suffi- 
cient for  me  ;  and  until  I  see  all  the  acknowledged  facts 
in  the  case,  the  existence  of  the  religion  itself,  its  re- 
cords, and  its  history,  better  explained  than  I  have  ever 


THE    GOSPELS.  159 

seen  them  accounted  for,  and  on  some  principle  more 
consistent  with  nature  and  probability  than  the  supposi- 
tion of  their  truth,  I  shall  be  content  to  rest,  where  I 
have  always  rested  with  confidence,  in  the  conviction 
of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

A  great  argument  against  the  truth  of  any  statement 
in  the  Gospels,  is  the  discrepancies  which  exist  some- 
times between  the  several  accounts  ;  as  between  the 
genealogies  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  beginning  of  the 
Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Luke,  or  in  the  list  of  apos- 
tles recorded  by  the  two  evangelists.  There  are  a 
great  many  ways  in  which  such  differences  may  be  ex- 
plained consistently  with  probability ;  but  whether  so 
or  not,  I  maintain  that  differences,  in  unessential  par- 
ticulars, are  necessary,  in  order  to  produce  conviction 
of  the  truth  of  several  narratives  of  the  same  circum- 
stances. Without  them  the  evidence  would  be  re- 
duced to  that  of  one  person,  from  whom  the  others 
copied,  or  else  we  should  be  entirely  satisfied  that 
there  was  collusion  between  the  writers.  The  only 
way  in  which  several  different  authors  can  avoid  the 
charge  of  conspiracy,  when  they  produce  narratives  of 
the  same  occurrences,  is  by  having  some  differences 
of  statement.  No  two  pair  of  eyes  see  exactly  the 
same  circumstances  in  the  same  relative  order,  or  po- 
sition ;  and  no  two  minds  derive  the  same  ideas  from 
them,  or  fall  upon  precisely  the  same  expressions  in 
describing  them.  Differences,  therefore,  are  inevita- 
ble, as  long  as  men  intend  to  adhere  to  the  truth.  And 
when  no  discrepancies  occur  in  narratives  like  those  of 


160  THE    GOSPELS. 

the  Gospels,  conspiracy  Is  the  only  way  of  accounting 
for  such  an  unheard  of  agreement. 

But,  in  the  investigation  of  truth,  other  matters  must 
be  taken  into  consideration.  If  discrepancies  produce 
doubts  as  to  the  accuracy,  or  fidehty,  of  different  wri- 
ters, they  produce  conviction  of  their  independence  of 
each  other ;  and  this  being  admitted,  how  is  their 
agreement  upon  any  fact  to  be  accounted  for,  except 
by  the  supposition  of  the  truth  of  that  statement  ?  The 
agreements  are  things  to  be  explained,  as  well  as  the 
differences  ;  and  the  objector  must  not  think  he  has 
overthrown  testimony  as  inaccurate  or  false,  when,  per- 
haps, he  has  given  it  new  weight,  as  honest  and  inde- 
pendent. Now,  for  one  discrepancy  between  the  evan- 
gehsts,  there  are  a  hundred  instances  of  agreement ; 
and  this  circumstance  is  particularly  to  be  observed, 
that  whereas  the  disagreements  are  all  in  some  little 
circumstances  of  detail,  of  not  the  slightest  moment, 
except  as  proofs  of  honest  independence,  for  which 
purpose  they  are  invaluable,  the  cases  of  agreement  are 
all  in  the  narratives  of  important  events,  in  the  relation 
of  the  most  important  instructions,  in  the  expression  of 
the  most  important  doctrines,  in  the  record  of  the  most 
striking  miracles. 

What  is  to  be  done  whh  these  records  ?  Suppose 
a  man  to  disbelieve  the  Evangelists  because  the  narra- 
tive of  the  resurrection  is  not,  word  for  word,  the  same 
in  them  all,  or  for  any  or  all  of  the  other  discrepancies. 
Still,  the  points  of  agreement  remain ;  and  there  they 
will  remain  through  all  ages,  the  sure  and  safe  foundation 


THE    GOSPELS.  161 

of  Christian  faith.  Every  generation  of  enlightened  stu- 
dents sees  some  of  the  difficulties  which  have  surround- 
ed these  books  vanish.  As  knowledge  increases,  and 
investigation  is  carried  on  with  zeal  and  fidelity,  obscu- 
rities are,  made  plain,  customs  are  discovered  which 
illustrate  what  was  not  understood,  and  criticism  de- 
velopes  the  doubtful  meaning  of  a  perplexing  passage. 
But  the  important,  fundamental  truths  and  doctrines 
remain  the  same  that  they  have  ever  been,  unchanged 
and  unchangeable  as  the  God  and  Father  who  revealecj 
them  to  us  by  his  Son. 

It  has  been  supposed,  by  some  profound  theological 
scholars,  that  there  was  a  document  written  in  He- 
brew, compiled  by  various  persons,  perhaps,  but  of 
considerable  extent,  and  widely  circulated  among  the 
contemporaries  of  our  Saviour,  containing  what  might 
be  called  the  Memorabilia  of  Christ,  and  from  which 
the  first  three  Evangelists  selected  all  those  passages 
which  they  have  in  common,  each  translating  them  into 
Greek  after  their  own  manner.*  This  may  have  been 
so,  though  I  confess  the  arguments  adduced  in  proof 
do  not  seem  to  me  absolutely  conclusive  ;  but  whether 
it  were  so  or  not  is  immaterial  to  this  argument ;  for 
the  testimony  of  the  three  evangelists  to  the  facts  is 
distinct  and  independent,  unless  it  be  shown  not  merely 
that  they  separately  made  use  of  a  common  document, 
but  that  they  agreed  together  to  make  such  and  such 
statements  and  no  other.  This  has  not  been  at-: 
tempted. 

*Matthew  is  supposed  to  have  written  originally  in  Hebrew  ;   but  it  is  not 
known  by  wliom  his  gospel  was  translated. 
14* 


162  THE    GOSPELS. 

I  remarked  that  the  discrepancies  were  in  unimpor- 
tant particulars  ;  but  it  may  be  said  no  particulars  are 
unimportant ;  that  the  mere  fact  of  their  being  stated  in 
connexion  with  a  pretended  revelation  makes  them  im- 
portant, and  that  they  must  be  proved  as  accurately  as 
the  essential  doctrines  or  miracles.  This  is  clearly 
impossible,  unless  men  be  supposed  infallible,  and  we 
are  brought  back,  after  all,  to  the  natural  distinction 
between  the  important  and  the  unimportant. 

An  instance  of  what  I  consider  unimportant  is  the 
difference  between  the  genealogies  of  Matthew  and 
Luke.  This  has  sometimes  been  represented  as  an 
insurmountable  difficulty.  A  man  cannot  have  two 
fathers ;  and  who  was  Joseph's  father,  Heh  according 
to  Luke,  or  Jacob  according  to  Matthew,  or  neither 
of  them  ?  There  are  many  ways  in  which  the  differ- 
ence in  the  genealogies  may  be  explained,  but  I  can- 
not conceive  it  to  be  material.  The  only  point  which 
can  be  considered  essential  is  that  Jesus  should  be 
shown,  in  some  way  or  other,  to  be  descended  from 
David ;  and  this,  in  order  that  the  words  of  prophecy 
might  be  fulfilled  respecting  his  family.  "  There  shall 
"come  a  rod  out  of  the  stem  of  Jesse."  But  why 
are  we  to  construe  prophecy  so  literally  ?  It  seems 
to  me  quite  enough  that  our  Saviour  was  born  a  Jew, 
without  proving  his  lineal  descent  from  David.  There 
was  an  interval  of  more  than  a  thousand  years  be- 
tween the  time  of  David  and  that  of  Christ  ;  enough, 
surely,  to  render  mistakes  in  genealogical  records  nat- 
ural, if  not  inevitable.  What  family  of  modern  Europe 
can  be  traced  back  for  a  thousand  years  without  suspi- 


THE    GOSPELS.  165 

cion  of  error  ?  And  suppose  one  or  both  of  these 
genealogies  to  he  incorrect,  which  is  clearly  the  most 
unfav^orable  supposition  that  can  be  made,  what  is  the 
consequence  ?  Does  it  throw  doubt  upon  any  fact  in 
the  personal  history  of  Christ  ?  Does  it  change  his 
doctrines,  or  his  character,  or  affect  the  proof  of  his 
miracles  ?  Not  in  the  least.  It  is  manifest  that  the 
whole  difficulty  arises  out  of  the  assertion  of  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  writings,  with  which  the  smallest  error  is 
incompatible  ;  and  that  if  we  will  only  judge  of  what  is 
contained  in  these  books  on  the  same  principles  we 
adopt  with  regard  to  others,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty 
in  ascertaining  the  important  truths,  and  separating 
them  from  the  unimportant  errors  which  may  be  found 
in  them. 

Another  argument  which  has  often  been  in  great 
favor  with  unbelievers  in  the  divine  authority  of  Jesus 
Christ,  is  the  low  condition  in  life  of  his  first  followers. 
How  were  fishermen  and  people  of  that  stamp  to  judge 
whether  such  or  such  a  transaction  were  miracle  or 
trick,  divine  inspiration,  or  human  imposture  ?  With- 
out contenting  myself  with  the  obvious  reply  that  intel- 
ligence and  good  sense  are  not  peculiar  to  any  station, 
I  shall  go  a  little  farther,  and  maintain  that  the  apos- 
tles, the  companions,  friends  and  first  preachers  of 
Christ  were  men  of  no  ordinary  character  and  capa- 
city ;  that  there  is  evidence  enough  in  what  is  recorded 
of  them,  and  in  the  manner  of  the  record,  to  prove 
that  they  were  perfectly  competent  to  the  duty  for 
which  they  were  selected ;  and  that  there  is  no   reason 


164  THE    GOSPELS. 

to  believe  that  greater  fitness  for  it,  either  by  nature  or 
education,  could  have  been  found  in  the  nation. 

In  the  first  place,  the  profession  of  a  fisherman  by 
no  means  presupposes  stupidity  or  ignorance.  On  the 
contrary,  there  is  not  a  class  of  persons  who,  from 
habit,  and  and  almost  from  necessity,  are  more  observ- 
ant of  what  is  passing  around  them.  They  are  apt  to 
be  better  acquainted  with  the  common  course  of  na- 
ture, in  many  respects,  than  other  men,  and  can  there- 
fore judge  better  when  that  course  is  violated,  and  to 
what  extent  superhuman  power  is  exerted.  No  one, 
certainly,  could  estimate  better  than  such  men  the  vio- 
lence of  a  storm,  or  the  suddenness  with  which  it  sub- 
sided ;  nor  could  any  but  fishermen  decide  understand- 
ingly  whether  or  not  their  success,  in  their  own  daily 
employment,  was  natural,  or  supernatural.  Such  men 
could  also  judge,  at  least  as  well  as  any  others,  how 
many  mouths  could  be  fed  by  ''five  loaves  and  two 
"small  fishes,"  as  their  occupation  must  often  have  led 
them  to  provide  food  for  a  longer  period  than  usually 
passes  between  meals. 

But  it  does  not  appear  that  they  were  all  fishermen. 
Matthew  at  least  was  in  a  public  station  of  trust  and 
responsibihty ;  and  in  the  absence  of  positive  evidence, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  presume  that  the  seven  or 
eight  others  were  taken  from  a  variety  of  employments, 
and  from  classes  of  persons  who  were  sufficiently  able 
to  see  and  judge  for  themselves,  and  record  for  the 
benefit  of  others  what  they  had  heard  and  seen.  If  in- 
creduhty  be  a  proof  of  sense,  as  it  seems  often  to  be 


THE    GOSPELS.  165 

regarded,  Thomas  certainly  was  sufficiently  cautious  in 
yielding  his  assent  to  positive  assertion  ;  and  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted,  by  any  one  who  will  consider  the  point, 
that  the  influence  of  such  a  man  as  Thomas  must  have 
been  constantly  and  strongly  felt  in  their  little  society. 

Whether  it  were  owing  to  this  influence,  or  to  their 
own  turn  of  mind,  I  know  not,  but  one  thing  is  clear, 
viz  :  that  none  of  them  w^ere  what  w^ould  be  called 
credulous  persons,  but  positively  the  reverse.  They 
were  all  "slow  of  heart  to  believe"  the  very  w^ords  of 
their  own  master.  Had  he  not  told  them,  not  only 
that  he  was  to  be  put  to  death,  but  that  he  was  to  rise 
again  ?  Had  he  not  wrought  miracles  enough  to  in- 
duce them  to  place  reliance  on  his  assurances  ?  They 
were  quite  ready  to  profess  their  confidence  in  him ; 
but  when  it  was  put  to  the  proof,  w^here  was  it  ?  Not 
one  of  them,  nor  of  the  women  who  were  most  nearly 
connected  with  them  believed,  or  even  recollected,  his 
prophecy  of  a  resurrection.  At  the  crucifixion  they 
all  forsook  him  and  fled,  except  the  w^omen ;  and 
though  their  sympathy  was  greater,  it  is  manifest  their 
faith  was  no  stronger.  They  followed  Christ  to  his 
tomb,  not  that  they  might  see  him  rise  from  it  in  due 
season,  but  that  they  might  know  wiiere  to  carry  their 
spices  to  emhahn  his  body.  Disappointed  at  not  find- 
ing it,  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  after  the  cruci- 
fiction,  Mary  wept,  because,  said  she,  without  a 
thought  of  a  resurrection,  "they  have  taken  away  my 
"Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have  laid  him." 

And  these  were  the  credulous,  simple  persons,  so 


166  THE    GOSPELS. 

ready  to  believe  every  thing  that  was  told  them,  and 
admit  every  pretension  well  or  ill  founded  !  It  seems 
to  me  that  if  hesitation  and  slowness  to  believe  any 
thing,  without  irresistible  proof,  be  a  qualification  for 
the  position  occupied  by  the  apostles,  of  witnesses  to 
the  displays  of  miraculous  power,  they  were  pre-emi- 
nently suited  to  the  station.  One  would  expect  to 
find  enthusiastic,  excitable  persons  most  profoundly 
aroused  at  this  crisis.  It  was  precisely  the  reverse 
with  the  apostles.  So  little  impression  had  been  made 
on  their  minds  by  the  promise  of  a  resurrection,  that 
they  every  one  of  them  forgot  it,  even  when  circum- 
stances might  have  reminded  them  of  it  ;  and  it  re- 
quired reiterated  assertion  to  make  them  perceive  the 
fact,  and  appreciate  its  consequences.  Credulous  per- 
sons believe  that  which  they  expect  or  desire,  without 
proof ;  these  men  and  women  could  scarcely  be  made 
to  believe  the  fact,  on  any  proof. 

There  is  another  assertion  often  made  in  disparage- 
ment of  the  apostles  and  evangelists,  which  seems  to 
me  equally  destitute  of  foundation ;  viz :  that  they 
were  vulgar,  ill  informed  persons  who  could  not  be 
supposed  capable  of  appreciating  the  claims  of  such  a 
man  as  Jesus  Christ,  as  well  as  those  of  higher  cultiva- 
tion might  have  done.  Now,  not  merely  referring,  as 
I  might  do,  to  their  works,  to  prove  them  to  have  been 
fully  capable  of  understanding  the  nature  of  Christ's 
doctrines  and  character,  I  deny  the  assertion  altogether, 
and  undertake  to  show  not  merely  from  the  substance, 
but  from  the  manner  of  their  writings,  that  they  were 


THE    GOSPELS.  167 

men  of  true  refinement  of  character,  and  of  sufficient 
cultivation  of  mind  to  constitute  them  unimpeachable 
witnesses  to  the  truth. 

I  will  omit  St.  Paul  at  present,  and  refer  to  the 
literary  productions  of  the  others.  We  have  writings 
by  Matthew,  James,  John,  Peter  and  Jude,  who  were 
apostles,  and  by  Mark  and  Luke,  who  were  their  as- 
sociates and  friends.  Five  out  of  twelve  of  the  original 
apostles  have  left  us  the  means  of  estimating  their  ca- 
pacity and  education ;  quite  a  sufficient  proportion,  one 
would  think,  to  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  whole.  The 
works  of  all  are  remarkably  well  adapted,  in  style  and 
manner,  to  their  object;  they  are  perspicuous,  simple, 
unaffected,  pure  hearted,  ardent  and  eloquent ;  and  I 
challenge  the  world  to  show  more  beautiful,  touching, 
pure,  and  altogether  exquisite  compositions  than  the 
epistles  of  John  and  James,  and  the  Gospel  of  the  for- 
mer. The  Gospel  and  Acts  by  Luke,  and  the  Gospel 
by  Matthew,  show  them  to  have  been  elegant  and  judi- 
cious writers  of  narrative,  and  the  Gospel  of  Mark 
falls  not  at  all  behind  the  rest  in  accuracy  and  per- 
spicuity. 

These  compositions  were,  all  of  them  .  probably, 
most  of  them  certainly,  written  in  a  language  which  was 
not  the  native  tongue  of  the  author.  Born  in  Pales- 
tine, these  men  spoke  the  Syriac  Hebrew  of  their  day 
and  generation,  but  they  wrote  in  Greek.  The  most 
illiterate  of  these  despised  writers  could  compose  in  a 
foreign  language  with  accuracy,  and  even  some  degree 
of  elegance  ;  certainly  in  a  very  appropriate  and  intel- 
ligible style.    Do  such  men  deserve  contempt  as  unedu- 


168  THE    GOSPELS. 

cated,  ignorant,  vulgar  ?  I  will  apply  such  epithets  to 
no  man,  who,  in  these  days  of  high  cultivation,  will 
show  me  specimens  of  his  composition,  of  equal  merit, 
in  a  foreign  language.  No,  it  is  altogether  a  mistake 
to  charge  the  apostles  with  gross  ignorance,  stupidity, 
or  credulity.  They  were  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  Hebrew  literature,  which  is  superior,  in  many  re- 
spects, to  any  the  world  has  yet  seen,  and  immeasura- 
bly superior  to  any  other  literature  existing  in  their 
day  ;  and  they  were  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  Greek 
language  to  use  it  freely  and  correctly.  They  were 
men,  therefore,  of  sufficient  cultivation;  and  of  their 
intelligence  and  credulity  I  am  willing  any  one  .should 
judge  by  their  actions  and  their  words. 

Of  one  of  their  number  I  have  not  yet  spoken  so 
particularly  as  he  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  John 
was  a  man,  not  only  of  singular  delicacy  and  refinement 
of  character,  very  remarkable  for  his  amiability  and 
kindness  of  heart,  but  it  is  manifest  that  he  was  also  of 
a  reflecting,  studious  turn  of  mind.  He  had  pursued  the 
metaphysical  studies  which  were  fashionable  with  the 
Platonists  of  his  day,  and  used  their  phraseology  in  the 
beginning  of  his  Gospel,  in  such  a  way  as  he  judged  it 
might  properly  be  used  with  reference  to  Christianity. 
That  such  vague  and  unnecessary  terms  were,  how- 
ever, little  to  his  taste,  may  be  reasonably  inferred,  I 
think,  from  his  introducing  them  so  very  rarely  after 
the  first  few  verses  of  his  Gospel. 

The  very  different  style  of  John  from  that  of  each 
of  the  other  apostles,  and  the  very  different  subjects  he 
introduced  into  his  narrative,  must  be  attributed  in  part, 


THE    GOSPELS.  169 

I  presume,  to  his  wish  to  record  some  things  omitted 
by  the  others,  and  in  part  to  the  turn  of  mind  which  led 
him  to  select  conversations  and  discussions  of  a  meta- 
physical cast,  and  to  abound  in  metaphorical  language. 
This  is  precisely  the  sort  of  man  we  should  call,  at  the 
present  day,  a  refined  and  intellectual  person;  and 
when  we  read  his  works,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
avoid  seeing  and  admiring  the  rare  combination  of  quali- 
ties both  of  his  head  and  his  heart.  He  had  simplicity 
and  tenderness,  yet  strength  of  character ;  an  inclina- 
tion to  metaphysical  and  somewhat  abstract  modes  of 
thinking,  yet  great  clearness  of  expression,  in  general, 
and  remarkable  practicalness  in  all  his  views.  What 
more  can  be  desired  of  a  man  in  any  situation  in  life, 
and  what  more  appropriate  qualities  can  be  imagined 
for  the  friend  and  biographer  of  the  teacher  of  the  new 
doctrines  in  religion  and  morals  ? 

Having  thus  considered  the  position  and  character 
of  the  evangelists,  and  suggested  to  you  some  eviden- 
ces of  their  singular  fitness  for  their  place  and  their 
task,  I  will  now  go  on  to  speak  of  the  contents  of  the 
records  they  have  left  us,  what  they  teach,  and  in  what 
light  we  ought  to  regard  them. 

In  the  first  place,  they  contain  the  history  of  the 
events  of  the  life,  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ;  next,  the  particulars  of  his  miracles,  and  lastly, 
his  instructions,  in  the  various  forms  of  precepts,  para- 
bles, arguments  and  commands.  In  other  vrords  they 
contain  the  whole  foundation  of  the  Christian  faith  and 
character.  They  contain  all  the  direct  testimony  to 
the  miraculous  character  and  powers  of  Christ,  which 

15 


170  THE    GOSPELS. 

are  the  evidence  of  his  mission  from  God,  and  they 
contain  also  the  doctrines  he  was  sent  to  teach  men. 
This  is  the  whole  of  Christianity.  He  who  believes 
their  testimony  to  the  character  and  conduct  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  believing  that,  receives  the  doctrines  as  of 
divine  authority,  and  obeys,  to  the  best  of  his  ability, 
his  commands,  as  they  are  set  forth  in  the  four  Gos- 
pels, is  entitled  to  the  name  of  Christian,  whether  he 
also  receives  many  other  things  which,  at  different 
times,  or  in  the  present  day,  have  been  called  Chris- 
tianity, or  not. 

It  is  natural,  it  is  necessary  to  believe  that  Jesus 
Christ  understood  and  taught  his  own  rehgion ;  that,  at 
least,  he  omitted  nothing  which  was  essential  to  its 
efficacy,  or  which  constituted  its  peculiarity.  The 
peculiar  doctrines  of  Christianity,  (a  very  favorite 
phrase  with  large  denominations  of  Christians,)  must 
be  found,  if  any  where,  one  would  think,  in  the  instruc- 
tions of  Christ  himself.  In  my  opinion  they  are  found 
there,  and  I  think  that  he  would  be  a  most  extraordi- 
nary minister  of  a  new  religion  who  did  not  teach  his 
own  creed,  and  his  own  precepts  thoroughly  and  clear- 
ly. Christ  is  not  liable  to  this  reproach.  He  did 
teach  all  that  it  is  necessary  to  know,  believe  and  do, 
to  attain  eternal  life  ;  and  it  is  a  sufficient  answer  to 
any  man  who  requires  you  to  believe  that  which  seems 
to  you  false  in  religion,  that  you  do  not  find  it  in  the 
teachings  of  Jesus. 

I  do  not  think  it  very  difficult  for  any  one  who  is 
familiar  x^^th  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  tolerably 
well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  world,  and  the 


THE    GOSPELS.  171 

world's  opinions,  down  to  the  period  of  the  Christian 
revelation,  to  understand,  upon  reading  the  Gospels, 
what  it  was  that  Christ  taught ;  what  it  is,  consequently, 
that  constitutes  the  essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Christianity  is  not,  as  it  is  made  to  appear,  in  many 
creeds,  one  mass  of  mysteries.  No  ;  it  is,  as  it  was 
intended  to  be,  sufficiently  clear  to  enable  people  with 
common  faculties,  and  with  common  opportunities,  to 
understand  its  doctrines  and  its  precepts ;  while  its 
sanctions  are  sufficiently  plain  to  operate  on  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  the  well  disposed,  of  all  degrees  of  intel- 
lectual capacity. 

We  find,  in  the  Gospels,  the  most  beautiful  system 
of  perfect  morals  ;  entirely  different  from  any  thing  that 
had  been  taught  before  among  the  heathen,  and  sur- 
passing all  that  preceded  it  in  distinctness,  and  com- 
prehensiveness. It  is,  in  reality,  a  system,  embracing 
the  whole  round  of  human  duties,  the  whole  sphere  of 
human  action  and  thought  in  the  department  of  morals. 
We  find  this  system  taught  by  authority — by  authority 
of  one  who  claimed  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
and  gave  proof  of  his  commission  by  his  miracles  ;  and 
we  find  him  giving  to  his  system  all  the  sanctions 
which  can  be  derived  from  the  power  of  the  Almighty, 
His  moral  character,  and  the  desire  of  happiness  which 
is  implanted  in  the  breasts  of  us  all.  We  find  him,  in 
order  to  give  efficacy  to  his  doctrines,  reveahng  a  fur 
ture  life,  so  much  desired  by  all  good  men  and  reflect^ 
ing  men  who  had  ever  existed,  and  connecting  us  with 
that  future  state  by  something  more  than  a  bare  decla- 
ration, by  proving  experimentally  tliat  death  is  not  the 


172  THE    GOSPELS. 

termination  of  human  existence,  but  only  the  birth  of 
the  soul  to  a  new  sphere  and  a  new  capacity  of  happy 
life. 

We  find  this  great  teacher  always  and  every  where 
appealing  to  the  highest  and  purest  motives,  always 
practical,  consistent,  and  thorough,  omitting  nothing 
necessary,  and  insisting  on  nothing  superfluous  to  a 
good  life  ;  and  finally,  we  see  him  setting  such  an  ex- 
ample of  the  fulfilling  of  his  own  precepts  in  life  and  in 
death,  as  proved  their  sufficiency  for  all  righteousness, 
both  by  their  purity  and  their  power,  and  his  unwaver- 
ing conviction  of  their  truth.  Is  there  any  thing  unin- 
telligible, mysterious,  or  contradictory  in  all  this  ? 
Or,  on  the  other  hand,  is  there  any  thing  unworthy  of 
the  Almighty,  unbecoming  him  to  reveal,  or  unneces- 
sary for  men  to  learn  ?  I  cannot  imagine  any  thing  of 
the  sort.  It  is  the  most  valuable  knowledge  men  can 
have ;  it  is  the  most  perfect  wisdom  they  can  put  in 
action ;  and  the  revelatiou  of  a  future  life,  the  happi- 
ness of  which  is  to  depend  upon  our  conduct  in  this,  is 
not  only  consistent  with,  but  is  the  best  evidence  of  the 
infinite  benificence  of  the  Deity,  and  illustrates  all  that 
was  obscure,  or  seemed  inconsistent  with  the  perfect 
tion  of  His  moral  attributes,  in  His  government  of  the 
world.  If  the  glory  of  God,  or  the  good  of  man  be 
worthy  of  divine  attention,  what  can  more  truly  pro- 
mote either  than  the  doctrines  and  precepts  taught  by 
Christ  ? 

But  it  is  said  by  the  unbeliever  that  there  is  nothing 
new  in  Christianity  ;  that  every  one  of  the  precepts 
and  doctrines  which  are  claimed  as  matters  of  revela-* 


THE    GOSPELS.  173 

tion,  were  acknowledged  as  truths,  or  at  least  regarded 
as  wisdom,  long  before  Christ  preached,  and  in  coun-r 
tries  foreign  and  distant  from  Judea.  Here,  again, 
vast  numbers  of  Christians,  esteeming  the  simple  views 
I  have  presented  entirely  unsatisfactory,  join  with  the 
unbeliever  in  his  representation  of  them,  and  once 
more  we  have  the  meeting  of  the  extremes  in  i\h 
founded  assertions,  and  worse  founded  conclusions, 
Is  a  resurrection  from  the  dead  a  thing  of  every  day 
occurrence  ?  Is  the  despairing  hope  of  the  wise  and 
good  in  former  ages,  and  the  total,  absolute,  undeni- 
able disbelief  of  responsibihty  in  a  future  slate  in  all 
other  classes,  to  be  compared  with  the  practical  belief 
in  the  same  doctrine  at  the  present  day,  as  shown  in 
the  joyful  certainty  of  the  upright,  and  the  fearful  dreacj 
of  the  corrupt  ?  This  difference  seems  to  me  the 
practical  result  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Who  else  ever  pretended  to  rise  after  death  ?  Many 
have  pretended  to  the  power  of  raising  others,  but 
who,  before  or  since,  ever  pretended  to  have  risen 
again  himself  ?  x\nd  where  is  there  an  accumulation 
of  evidence  equal  to  that  contained  in  the  four  GospelS| 
to  any  miraculous  occurrence  ? 

It  will  perhaps  be  admitted  that  the  sanctions  were 
new,  if  the  doctrines  had  been  discovered  before  ;  and 
this  alone  would  be  enough  to  demonstrate  the  infinite 
importance  to  the  world  of  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus. 
But  this  is  a  very  imperfect  view  of  the  case.  The 
character  of  Jesus  Christ  is  as  new  as  the  sanctions  of 
his  instructions.  It  was  new  at  the  time  of  his  birth, 
and  is  equally  original,  unparalleled,  unique  at  this  day. 

15* 


174  THE    GOSPELS. 

"  I  find  no  fault  in  him,"  sa.id  Pilate;  and  from  that 
hour  to  this,  no  man  has  found  a  fault  in  him.  Some 
have  attempted  the  task,  but  how  totally  in  vain  the 
world  has  decided.  This  is  a  revelation  which  I  con- 
tend it  was  worthy  of  God  to  make,  and  for  which  we 
should  be  infinitely  grateful,  that  human  nature  can  be 
so  exalted,  so  perfect  as  it  was  in  Christ  Jesus. 

But  it  appears  to  me  that  the  whole  argument  is 
founded  in  error.  It  was  not  merely  in  the  sanctions 
of  doctrines  previously  assented  to,  or  the  perfect  ex- 
ample he  left  us,  that  Jesus  surpassed  all  other  men. 
His  doctrines  and  precepts  themselves  were  all  new; 
and  not  only  so,  but  they  were  the  very  reverse  of 
what  was  commonly  held  true  in  those  days.  Look 
at  the  first  recorded  lessons  which  fell  from  his  lips. 
No  man  ever  before  blessed  the  poor  in  spirit,  (the 
humble,)  the  mourner,  the  meek,  the  merciful,  the 
peace  maker,  the  pure,  the  persecuted,  and  the  righ- 
teous. If  all  that  be  not  n^w,  I  should  like  to  have 
the  parallel  passage  pointed  out  in  a  heathen  writer  or 
speaker.  New  then  !  Yes,  it  is  new  now,  to  all  but 
the  humble  Christian.  The  boasted  human  faculties 
have  set  themselves  in  direct  opposition  to  all  this,  as 
well  since  the  truth  was  declared  as  before.  How 
many  believe  now  that  humility,  and  peacefulness,  and 
meekness,  and  mercy,  are  superior  to  their  opposite 
qualities  ?  How  many  think  it  better  to  be  persecuted 
than  to  persecute  ?  The  truth  is,  it  is  all  so  new  that 
men  yet  find  it  hard  to  believe,  and  still  harder  to 
practise  ;  and  all  our  familiarity  with  the  words  has 
not    yet    rendered   us   familiar   with    the   ideas,    nor 


THE    GOSPELS.  175 

prompted  us  to  act  in  very  strict  conformity  with  the 
principles. 

"A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you,"  said  our 
Saviour,  "that  ye  love  one  another."  It  was  a  new 
commandment.  It  is  no  sufficient  answer  to  say  that 
Cicero  had  already  spoken,  in  the  strongest  terms,  of 
ihe  delight  of  friendship ;  and  had  even  said  that  if 
kindness  and  affection  were  taken  from  human  life,  all 
its  charm  was  destroyed.  It  was  not  friendship,  in 
this  limited  sense,  that  Jesus  Christ  inculcated  as  a 
duty  ;  but  that  wider  benevolence  which  would  em- 
brace even  enemies,  and  "those  who  despitefully  use 
"you  and  persecute  you."  Had  Cicero  any  idea  of 
such  a  comprehensive  virtue  ?  Certainly  not.  His 
principle  on  this  subject  was  probably  that  referred  to 
by  our  Saviour.  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
"(friend)  and  hate  thine  enemy  ;"  and  the  idea  of  being 
kind  and  forgiving  to  an  enemy  w^ould  have  been  to 
him  entirely  new  as  a  principle  of  action. 

It  is  said  too,  that  Cicero,  as  well  as  others  of  the 
ancients,  believed  in  a  future  state.  But  how  he  be- 
lieved in  it,  with  what  firmness,  and  with  what  ideas  in 
connexion  with  it,  is  also  sufficiently  clear.  Look  at 
his  own  last  faltering  w^ords  in  his  essay  on  Old  Age. 
"If  I  err  in  believing  the  minds  of  men  to  be  immor- 
"tal,  I  err  from  choice."  Is  that  the  language  of  a 
man  who  really,  efiectively  believed  in  a  future  state  ^ 
Compare  it  with  the  glowing  terms  wiiich  flow  from 
Christian  faith.  "  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory." 
"Thanks  be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory, 
"through  our  Lord' Jesus  Christ." 


176  THE    GOSPELS. 

Then  the  dependence  of  our  future  state  upon  the 
character  and  conduct  we  maintain  in  this  hfe,  is  no 
where  distinctly  taught  as  a  principle  to  guide  us,  but 
in  the  Christian  scriptures.  This  is,  of  course,  the 
most  important  part  of  the  whole  doctrine  ;  and  so  long 
as  I  believe  this  to  be  new,  others  may  boast  the  dis- 
coveries of  unaided  human  minds,  and  may  point  to 
Socrates,  or  Cicero,  as  sufficient  guides,  but  I  will  re- 
peat with  the  apostle,  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ? 
''  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

It  seems  to  m'e  a  vain  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the 
unbeliever,  to  show  that  there  was  nothing  new  in  the 
doctrines,  precepts  and  example  of  Christ.  So  far 
from  this  was  the  fact  that  each  and  all  were  new ;  and 
not  only  new,  but  of  inconceivable  value  to  mankind, 
as  their  guide  through  life,  and  their  support  in  death. 

It  is  equally  in  vain  for  him  who  thinks  that  the 
Trinity,  the  atonement,  the  total  depravity  of  mankind, 
justification  by  faith,  and  the  other  dogmas  of  Cal- 
vinism, are  the  pecuhar  doctrines  of  Christianity,  to 
deny  that  the  revelation  of  a  future  life,  and  its  con? 
nexion  with  the  present  one,  as  I  have  presented  it, 
the  character,  precepts  and  instructions  of  Christ  were 
both  new  and  valuable.  It  cannot  be  denied,  I  think, 
consistently  with  truth  and  reason ;  and  all  the  sneers 
which  the  believers  in  those  doctrines  are  apt  to  cast 
upon  simple  morality,  founded  on  the  motives  appealed 
to  by  Christ  and  the  apostles,  fall  upon  the  instructions 
of  our  Saviour  himself.  A  pure  life,  induced  by  the 
fear  and  love  of  God,  and  the  hope  of  happiness  here 
and  hereafter,  was  what  Christ  taught,  what  he  lived 


THE    GOSPELS.  177 

and  died  to  exhibit  in  perfection,  and  what  he  rose 
again  to  estabhsh,  on  imperishable  proof,  as  the  sure 
means  of  attaining  an  eternal  state  of  happiness. 

If  others  think  these  things  of  little  importance  com- 
pared with  their  mysteries  and  iminteUigible  contradic- 
tions, I  can  only  regret  that  they  should  hold  and  "teach 
"for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men,"  as  I  think. 
But  I  condemn  them  not ;  to  their  own  master  they 
stand  or  fall,  and  I  only  pray  them  to  allow  to  me  the 
freedom  I  refuse  not  to  them.  Let  them  not  say  I 
deny  Christ,  because  I  do  not  agree  with  Calvin,  or 
with  themselves.  Let  them  not  thrust  me  from  the 
Christian  church,  because  I  do  not  subscribe  the 
thirty -nine  articles,  so  long  as  I  profess  to  take  the 
Bible  for  my  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

But  it  is  of  little  consequence  whether  they  do  or 
not.  Their  power  extends  not  beyond  the  grave  ; 
^  and  I  trust  they  will  rise,  on  the  morning  of  the  resur- 
rection, to  a  joyful  perception  of  the  errors  which  have 
led  them  to  intolerance,  and  will  not  be  sorry  to  find 
many  good  men  in  their  company  in  heaven,  whom 
they  had  doomed  on  earth  to  outer  darkness. 

Of  the  doctrines  which  form  the  system  of  Calvin, 
which  have  been,  and  still  are,  the  opinions  of  a  major- 
ity of  protestants  in  this  country, — with  several  modifi- 
cations, according  to  the  denomination  which  receives 
the  greater  part,  and  is  still  considered  orthodox — I  do 
not  wish  to  speak  at  large.  They  strike  me  as  so  mon- 
strous, so  utterly  irreconcilable  with  all  natural  and  all 
revealed  notions  of  God's  character  and  will,  that  I 
can  only  wonder  that  men  of  intelligence  and  research 


178  THE    GOSPELS. 

can  be  found  to  embrace  them.  Such  however  is  un- 
doubtedly the  case.  Men  of  the  brightest  minds  and 
purest  hearts  have  been  and  are  disciples  of  Calvin  ; 
and  while  I  regret  what  seems  to  me  their  very  painful, 
distressing  delusion,  I  have  the  highest  respect  for  the 
motives  which  have  governed  them,  and  have  led  them 
in  this  dreadful  path.  Dreadful,  at  least,  it  would  be 
to  me  to  believe  God  was  a  being  capable  of  inflicting 
infinite  punishment  on  the  innocent,  for  the  sake  of 
reheving  the  guilty  from  all  suffering ;  dreadful,  to 
believe  that  men  by  nature  were  wholly  inchned  to  all 
evil,  and  that  continually,  and  that  even  the  merits  of 
Christ,  as  they  understand  them,  could  not  suffice  to 
save  more  than  a  very  small  proportion  of  mankind 
from  eternal  torture. 

But,  thank  God,  these  horrid  doctrines  are  not  to 
be  found  in  the  Gospels.  The  very  inventors  and  de- 
fenders of  them  scarcely  pretend  to  justify  one  of  them 
by  the  language  of  Christ  himself,  and  the  little  they 
can  refer  to  in  his  instructions  is  so  manifestly  misun- 
derstood by  them,  that  I  should  almost  be  willing  to 
leave  you,  without  help,  to  refute  their  arguments  from 
the  very  passages  they  quote. 

You  may  ask  me  how  the  existence  of  such  opinions 
of  Christian  truth  is  to  be  accounted  for,  if  their  foun- 
dation be  so  shght ;  and  I  think  it  will  not  be  difficult 
to  answer  the  question.  You  will  recollect  that  those 
who  hold  them,  believe  in  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures ;  i.  e.  they  think  every  word  is  the  word  of 
God.  Of  course,  one  word,  phrase,  or  sentence  is  as 
true  and  important  as  another.     But  it  is  not  possible 


THE    GOSPELS.  179 

for  the  human  mind,  with  its  present  imperfection,  to 
hold  every  sentence  in  exactly  equal  regard,  nor  to 
have  every  one  equally  present  to  the  memory,  at  all 
times.  Some  will  impress  themselves  more  upon  the 
mind  than  others  ;  will  take  possession  of  a  larger  share 
of  the  reflections  than  others.  This  is  especially  the 
case  with  passages  which  appeal  to  the  imagination, 
or  are  the  ardent  expression  of  the  feelings. 

One  of  these  strong  texts,  as  for  instance  the  asser* 
tion  of  Jeremiah,  "the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all 
"things,  and  desperately  wicked,"  takes  possession  of 
the  mind  for  a  time,  and  ere  long  it  comes  out  in  the 
shape  of  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity,  i.  e.  of  the  en- 
tire, absolute  opposition  of  every  unregenerate  human 
being,  to  every  thing  that  is  good,  and  his  inclination 
to  every  thing  that  is  evil  ;  and  it  is  forgotten  that  our 
Saviour  himself  said  that  "the  good  man,  out  of  the 
"good  treasures  of  his  heart,  bringeth  forth  good 
"things."  There  were  such  beings  as  good  men, 
therefore,  before  Jesus  Christ  was  born,  or  preached ; 
and  before  Christian  regeneration  was  ever  heard  of. 
But  the  one  sentence  has  made  a  deep  impression,  the 
other  is  forgotten  ;  and  the  former  gradually  becomes 
a  fixed  idea,  and  every  thing  must  be  made  to  bend  to 
it,  and  a  whole  system  of  theology  may  grow  out  of  as 
slight  a  foundation  as  that.  I  beheve  that  the  system 
of  Calvin  is  based  upon  this  very  doctrine  ;  or  at  least^ 
this  is  a  necessary  part  of  it. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  several  books  of  the  Bible, 
are  regarded,  as  I  have  endeavored  to  show  you  they 
should  be,  as  the  productions  of  men,  with  different 


180  THE    GOSPELS. 

characters  and  under  different  circumstances,  then  al- 
lowance will  be  made  for  these  things,  and  the  whole 
will  not  be  considered  as  placed  upon  one  level  of  equal 
authority.  The  vehement  language  of  poetry,  or  rhet- 
oric, will  not  be  set  down  as  an  expression  of  strict 
philosophical  or  moral  truth,  not  to  be  counterbalanced 
by  any  other  assertion ;  but  poetry,  and  feehng,  and 
doctrine,  and  precept  will  all  fall  into  their  proper  pla- 
ces, and  hold  their  proper  relative  rank ;  and  no  par- 
ticular passage  will  be  allowed  to  supersede  the  au- 
thority of  all  others,  nor  will  one  dogma  banish  the 
recollection  of  the  truths  which  pervade  the  whole  col- 
lection of  works. 

Another  facility  for  the  adoption  of  any  doctrine, 
however  preposterous  it  may  appear,  is  a  false  use  of 
the  world  mystery.  This  term  is  properly  applied  to 
assertions  which  we  do  not  understand,  or  subjects 
about  which  we  have  no  clear  ideas  ;  and  is  improperly 
apphed  to  assertions,  or  theories,  which  involve  con- 
tradictions or  inconsistencies.  For  instance,  if  a  man 
tells  me  it  is  a  very  mysterious  circumstance  that  a 
juggler  should  be  able  to  have  the  same  ball,  of  an  inch 
in  diameter,  in  both  hands  at  once,  when  his  hands  are 
a  yard  asunder,  I  should  say  it  was  very  strange  that 
any  one  should  call  a  simple  impossibility  a  mystery. 
There  is  no  mystery  about  it.  I  understand  perfectly 
what  the  man  means  to  assert,  and  I  can  see  reason 
perhaps  for  thinking  him  honest  in  his  assertion  ;  and  I 
see  that  he  uses  the  word  mystery  in  a  wrong  sense. 
The  assertion  is  the  assertion  of  a  falsehood,  not  of  a 
mystery. 


THE    GOSPELS.  181 

If  a  philosopher,  however,  tells  me  he  does  not'  un- 
derstand the  process  of  assimilation  in  plants  and  ani- 
mals, that  wonderful  process  by  which  each  flower  is 
adorned  with  its  colors,  and  each  animal  endowed  with 
its  appropriate  powers,  I  perceive  that  this  is  properly 
a  mystery  to  the  human  mind  at  present.  We  do  not 
know,  as  yet,  the  means  by  which  it  is  effected.  We 
have  no  theory  about  it.  It  is  an  unknown  process, 
and  one  the  understanding  of  which  seems  to  be  beyond 
the  reach  of  our  faculties.  At  all  events  it  is  beyond 
our  present  knowledge.  But  it  involves  no  absurdity 
or  contradiction.  The  philosopher  is  not  talking  non- 
sense, or  telling  me  a  falsehood  ;  but  a  striking  truth, 
which  illustrates,  in  a  beautiful  manner,  the  difference 
between  divine  and  human  power.  God  every  hour 
does  that  of  which  man  cannot  discover  the  method. 

Suppose  now  that,  hereafter,  a  philosopher  should 
arise  who  should  discover  the  means,  the  modus  ope- 
randi, by  which  all  this  is  done  ;  should  show  us  the 
difference  in  the  organization  of  two  rose  trees  which 
makes  the  flower  of  one  white,  and  that  of  the  other 
red ;  should  explain  why  some  portion  of  the  grass 
eaten  by  a  buffalo  should  become  horn,  while  no  por- 
tion of  a  similar  grass  eaten  by  a  horse  ever  shoots  out 
upon  his  head  in  the  shape  or  consistency  of  horn.  He 
would  be  a  great  and  wise  man  clearly  ;  but  what  should 
we  say  of  him  in  relation  to  this  subject  ?  Undoubt- 
edly, that  he  had  unravelled  the  mystery  ;  that  he  had 
rendered  intelligible  that  which  was  unintelligible  before. 

A  mystery,  then,  is  susceptible  of  explanation.  A 
falsehood,  contradiction,  or  inconsistency  is  incapable 

16 


182  THE    GOSPELS. 

of  explanation.  Reason  and  argue  about  it  as  you 
please,  it  remains  a  falsehood,  contradiction,  or  incon- 
sistency still ;  and  nothing  can  change  its  nature.  It 
matters  not  whether  the  topic  be  physical  nature,  mor- 
als, or  religion.  An  absurdity,  or  contradiction,  in 
either  is  a  very  different  thing  from  a  mystery.  And 
let  no  man  beguile  you  with  a  misuse  of  this  word. 

If  you  believe  that  God  is  just,  you  cannot  believe 
that  He  has  punished  the  innocent  in  order  to  allow  the 
guilty  to  go  free,  for  this  is  inconsistent  with  the  radical 
idea  of  justice.  If  you  believe  Him  to  have  punished 
the  innocent  instead  of  the  guilty,  then  you  cannot  be- 
lieve Him  to  be  just ;  for  it  is  only  a  misuse  of  the  word 
to  apply  it  to  a  judge  who  does  such  an  act  of  injus- 
tice. Reflect  upon  it  as  you  may,  the  idea  of  the  in- 
fliction of  punishment  on  the  wrong  person  is  utterly 
irreconcilable  w^ith  the  idea  of  justice,  and  you  cannot 
believe  both  to  be  true  of  God,  any  more  than  of  a 
human  being.  If  you  say  the  scriptures  teach  us  that 
Christ  suffered,  "the  just  for  the  unjust,"  I  reply  that 
such  an  expression  does  not  tend  in  the  slightest  degree 
to  prove  a  vicarious  suffering  ;  that  it  is  perfectly  intel- 
ligible on  a  different  theory,  and  I  will  not  believe  a 
man  in  his  senses  to  write  folly,  if  there  be  any  way  in 
which  he  can  be  supposed  to  have  written  wisdom. 

So  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  If  you  tell  me 
that  the  One  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  exists  in  three 
persons,  each  of  which  is  not  only  equal  to  each  of 
the  others,  but  equal  to  all  three  together,  I  answer 
that  you  are  telling  me  not  a  mystery,  but  an  absurdity ; 
just  as  great  as  if,  in  physics,  you  were  to  tell  me  that 


THE    GOSPELS.  183 

the  three  sides  of  a  triangle  were  not  only  equal  to  each 
other,  but  that  each  was  also  equal  to  all  three,  itself 
included.     I  perceive  you  use  terms  inconsistently  with 
their  meaning,    and   nothing   can,   by  any   possibility, 
make  such  assertions  consistent  with  truth  and  reason^ 

Some  of  the  unavoidable  consequences  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  are  not  merely  shocking,  but  if  they 
were  spoken  with  irreverence,  would  be  universally  re- 
garded as  blasphemous.  That  God  should  be  born  of 
a  vi'oman.  His  own  creation,  should  suffer,  and  finally 
should  die,  are  assertions  which,  however  inconceivable 
is  the  fact,  have  been  made,  not  by  the  profane  and  the 
scoffing,  but  by  the  serious,  devout  believer,  for  many 
ages,  and  must  be  made  by  all  who  are  consistent  Trin- 
itarians. No  wonder  they  maintain  that  the  use  of  rea- 
son should  be  abandoned  in  the  study  of  the  scriptures. 
But  I  will  not  pursue  this  course  of  remark,  as  I  do  not 
wish  to  make  this  httle  book  controversial  any  farther 
than  is  absolutely  necessary  to  explain  my  own  views, 
and  to  caution  you  against  what  appear  to  me  dreadful 
errors. 

J  turn,  with  delight,  from  the  <ioctrines  which  are 
not  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  from  the  traditions 
which  make  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect,  to  the 
truths  which  are  taught  there,  and  the  precepts  the  ob^ 
5ervance  of  which  will  lead  us  to  the  perfection  of  char- 
acter exhibited  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  perfection  of 
happiness  proposed  to  us  as  the  reward  of  our  efforts. 
The  attributes  of  God  are  every  where,  in  the  Bible, 
represented  as  perfect,  and  in  the  Gospels  He  is  shown 
in  the  most  endearing  and  attractive  light  in  which  it  is 


184  THE    GOSPELS. 

possible  to  bring  Him  to  our  minds.  He  was  called 
"Our  Father"  by  Jesus  Christ,  not  for  the  first  time, 
certainly,  but  in  a  manner  and  with  a  frequency,  which 
showed  how  it  was  that  Christ  himself  habitually  regard- 
ed Him,  and  in  effect  to  make  a  new  impression  with 
regard  to  His  relations  to  men. 

The  rules  for  human  action,  to  train  the  character  to 
at  least  a  humble  imitation  of  the  divine  perfection,  are 
also  unexceptionable.  Whoever  conscientiously  and 
truly  seeks  to  form  his  character  by  those  rules,  will 
become,  I  say  not  perfect,  for  that,  in  the  strict 
sense,  is  impossible ;  but  excellent.  The  mere  effort 
will  improve  the  character,  and  continued  effort  will  not 
fail  to  lead  to  continued  improvement,  and  no  limit  can 
be  assigned  to  this  process.  That  we  may  not  sit 
down  in  despairing  consciousness  of  our  sins  and  im- 
perfections, God  promises  to  help  us,  and  sets  before 
us  the  example  of  good  men,  and  especially  of  Jesus 
Christ,  who  though  ''he  was  in  all  points  tempted  like 
"as  we  are,  was  yet  without  sin,"  and  holds  out  to  us 
an  infinite  reward  in  a  future  state.  Every  good  mo- 
tive which  can  he  i^oused  is  appealed  to,  the  love  and 
fear  of  God,  gratitude  both  to  our  Maker  and  our  Sav- 
iour, love  to  our  fellow  men,  and  finally,  regard  to  our 
own  happiness.  Nothing  is  wanting  which  can  tend 
to  make  us  better,  and  the  revelation  of  God's  will  re- 
specting our  character  and  destination  was  neither  un- 
worthy of  Him,  nor  unimportant  to  us.  The  whole 
plan  is  well  adjusted,  and  perfectly  executed.  The 
means,  the  opportunity,  and  the  inducements  to  virtue 
are  presented  to  mankind  ^  and  they  are  left  to  embrace 


THE    GOSPELS.  185 

or  reject  the  offers  of  divine  goodness  and  mercy,  ac? 
cording  to  their  understanding  and  inclination.  Virtue, 
and  that  alone,  is  required  of  us  as  the  passport  to 
eternal  life. 

If  it  were  desirable  to  men,  and  suitable  to  God's 
character  to  give  the  world  a  perfect  guide  through 
life,  and  an  all  sufficient  support  in  death,  then  it  was 
desirable  and  suitable  that  Christ  should  teach  these 
truths,  and  teach  them  with  authority,  though  some  of 
them  might  have  been  partially  known  and  imperfectly 
understood  before.  Authority  was  the  very  thing  which 
was  necessary  in  order  to  make  them  valuable ;  and 
that  was  given  to  them  by  the  miraculous  powers  and 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ. 

There  is  one  thing  more,  contained  in  the  Gospels, 
to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention,  as  a  beautiful 
completion  of  the  whole  system,  the  adoption  of  two 
simple  rites  as  means  of  promoting  and  sustaining  the 
rehgion.  The  evening  before  his  crucifixion,  when 
Jesus  expressed  in  his  discourse  the  tenderest  feelings 
of  which  human  nature  can  conceive,  and  commended 
his  disciples  to  God  in  the  most  sublime  and  pathetic 
prayer  which  language  can  convey,  he  supped  with  the 
apostles,  and  enjoined  it  upon  them  to  repeat  the  meet- 
ing in  memory  of  him.  Imagine  them  assembhng  in 
after  times,  as  in  their  harassed  hves  they  had  opportu- 
nity, to  renew  this  simple  feast.  How  would  not  their 
hearts  melt  within  them,  as  they  read  the  words  which 
it  is  easy  to  believe  were  already  recorded  by  the  be? 
loved  John !  What  emotions  must  have  bound  them  to 
each  other,  to  the  memory  of  their  Lord,  and  to  their 

16* 


186  THE    GOSPELS. 

duty  as  his  disciples  !  It  seems  to  me  impossible  to 
imagine  any  thing  more  perfectly  adapted  to  the  end 
designed,  of  keeping  alive  the  memory  and  the  love  of 
their  master,  than  this  touching,  simple  rite.  Original, 
characteristic,  beautiful,  however  it  may  have  been 
changed  under  the  operation  of  time  and  circumstances, 
it  is  still  the  most  solemn,  impressive  and  improving 
ceremony  which  is  known  in  the  world.  It  is  adapted 
at  once  to  the  character  of  Christ,  the  character  of  his 
religion,  and  the  character  of  the  human  heart ;  which, 
however  corrupt,  is  yet  capable  of  improvement  from 
the  contemplation  of  the  perfect,  and  can  still  sympa- 
thise with  pure  and  holy  affection. 

Among  the  last  words  of  Jesus,  recorded  by  St. 
Matthew,  are  these,  "Go  ye  therefore  and  teach  all 
"nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
"and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost;"  thus 
adopting  the  form  which  was  already  well  known  to 
his  countrymen,  of  washing  with  water,  as  a  sign  of 
admission  to  the  fellowship  of  his  followers.  Nothing 
can  be  more  appropriately  significant  of  purity,  that 
purity  of  design  which  is  necessary  to  desire,  in  sincer- 
ity, communion  with  Christ,  and  that  purity  of  life 
which  is  necessary  to  constitute  a  perfect  disciple. 
Both  these  rites  are  remarkable,  not  merely  for  their 
simplicity,  but  for  their  adaptation  to  the  circumstan- 
ces of  all  men,  for  the  facility  with  which  they  may  be 
perpetuated,  and  for  the  beautiful  meaning  they  are  in- 
tended to  convey.  They  are  not  confined,  like  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Hebrews,  to  a  particular  people,  or 
a  particular  place  ;  nor,  like  the   ceremonies  of  false 


THE    GOSPELS.  187 

religions,  do  they  consecrate  a  particular  spot,  or  ren- 
der indispensable  cruel  inflictions. 

In  conclusion,  there  is  a  single  point  which  I  wish 
you  to  consider  attentively.  The  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  I  have  endeavored  to  set  it  before  you,  is 
simple,  intelligible,  of  infinite  value  both  in  hfe  and  in 
death,  suited  to  the  condition  of  the  human  race,  and 
to  the  character  of  God  ;  involving  no  contradictions, 
no  absurdities,  but  exhibiting  a  symmetry,  complete- 
ness and  perfection  which  mark  its  divine  origin.  So 
admirable  is  the  latter  quahty  that  many  men,  with  clear 
and  strong  perceptions  of  it,  have  deemed  this  alone, 
without  miracles,  sufficient  proof  that  Jesus  was  the 
Son  of  God.  I  think  this  perfection  and  symmetry 
would  be  destroyed,  if  the  external  proofs  of  the  char- 
acter and  powers  of  Christ  were  wanting ;  but  with 
them,  as  they  actually  exist,  nothing  is  wanting  to  es- 
tabhsh,  in  the  most  conclusive  manner,  his  divine  au- 
thority, and  perfectly  show  forth  the  beneficence  of 
God  in  his  dealings  with  men.  It  is,  in  truth,  a  reve- 
lation of  the  character  and  will  of  God,  so  far  as  we 
are  interested  to  know  them. 

But  if  the  doctrines  to  which  I  have  repeatedly  al- 
luded be  true,  it  ceases  to  be  a  revelation,  so  far  as 
they  are  concerned,  i,  e.  so  far  as  the  whole  rehgion 
is  concerned.  For  instead  of  revealing  any  thing, 
they  only  mystify  and  confound  all  natural  notions  of 
God's  character  and  will.  These  were  much  clearer 
before  than  after  Trinitarianism  and  Calvinism  began. 
Now  what  sort  of  revelation  is  that  which  confuses  the 
intellect,  bhnds  it  to  its  real  position,  and  actually  re- 


188  THE    GOSPELS. 

verses  the  natural  dictates  of  the  understanding  and  the 
heart  ?  That  which  remains  a  mystery  has  never  been 
revealed ;  else  it  would  have  ceased  to  be  a  mystery. 
Still  less  can  what  was  a  simple,  intelhgible  truth  be 
converted  into  a  mystery  by  revelation.  Truth  may 
be  made  clearer,  or  may  have  authority  given  to  it  by 
revelation  ;  but  whenever  it  is  rendered  less  clear  and 
intelhgible  than  it  was  before,  the  process  by  which  this 
is  done  is  not  called  revelation,  but  might  be  consider-^ 
ed  as  multiplying  "words  without  knowledge.'^ 

I  do  not  propose  to  go  into  any  explanation  of  par^ 
ticular  difficulties  of  phraseology  which  may  occur  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  general  considerations  I 
have  presented  are  designed  to  satisfy  you  that  what- 
ever they  may  be,  they  cannot  be  a  serious  obstacle  to 
a  fervent  faith  in  the  religion  taught  in  these  books  ; 
and  even  that  if  there  were  inexplicable  difficulties, 
there  is  enough  which  is  clear  and  certain  to  overpower 
them,  and  compel  your  assent  to  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity.  I  will  only  recall  to  your  minds,  before 
proceeding  to  speak  of  the  other  books,  the  remark  I 
have  made,  that  the  Gospels  contain  a  satisfactory  and 
full  statement  of  all  that  was  taught  and  revealed  by 
Christ ;  in  other  words,  the  peculiar,  essential  doc-, 
trines  and  precepts  of  his  religion. 


THE  ACTS  AND  EPISTLES.  189 


CHAPTER  XII.   THE  ACTS  AND  EPISTLES. 


What  should  we  expect  to  find  in  the  Uves  and  let- 
ters of  the  apostles,  if  we  had  never  read  them  ?  Prob- 
ably, we  should  look  for  some  account  of  the  efforts 
they  made  to  spread  the  truth,  and  of  their  views  of  its 
nature  and  importance.  We  should  look  upon  these 
contemporary  explanations  and  comments  and  exhorta- 
tions, discourses  and  actions,  as  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance in  illustrating  the  character  and  objects  of  the 
first  disciples,  and  explaining  their  views  of  the  nature  of 
the  religion.  But  we  should  not  expect  to  find  any  thing 
that  might,  with  propriety,  be  called  a  further  revela- 
tion ;  nor  with  any  thing  in  the  shghtest  degree  tending 
to  subvert  the  simplicity  or  the  truths  of  the  Gospel. 
If  these  men  be  honest,  we  should  say  to  ourselves,  we 
shall  find  them  laboring,  ardently  and  perseveringly,  in 
the  cause  of  their  master,  and  exhibiting  their  own  par- 
ticular characters  in  their  several  modes  of  doing  it ; 
we  shall  find  in  them  "  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
"  spirit;"  we  shall  find  them  exhibiting  in  their  fives 
the  influence  of  the  truths  they  had  been  taught,  and 
were  themselves  teaching.  If  they  be  dishonest,  they 
will  be  found  contending  for  the  mastery  over  each 
other,  and  living  upon  their  converts,  as  false  prophets 
are  apt  to  do  ;  and  in  the  contentions  that  would  ensue, 
the  spirit  of  the  religion  would  evaporate,  and  its  life- 
less body  fall,  not  to  rise  again. 


190  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

We  open  the  books,  and  find  them  precisely  what 
we  could  wish  and  hope.  The  apostles  were  blame- 
less in  their  lives  and  conversations,  earnestly  at  work 
in  the  conversion  of  Jews  and  Gentiles ;  ardent,  affec- 
tionate, argumentative  or  practical,  according  to  their 
temperament  and  attainments,  but  all  of  them  upright, 
conscientious,  intelligent,  and  some  of  them  learned 
and  accomplished  men. 

The  most  remarkable  event,  recorded  in  the  history 
of  the  apostles  by  Luke,  is  the  conversion  of  Saul  of 
Tarsus  to  behef  in  the  divine  mission  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  of  ardent  temperament, 
powerful  in  action  as  in  intellect,  zealous,  persevering, 
high  minded  and  conscientious.  The  acquisition  of 
such  a  mind  and  heart  to  the  cause  was  of  vast  impor- 
tance to  the  early  progress  of  Christianity  ;  and  the 
traces  of  his  labors  have  been  left  upon  every  succeed- 
ing age  of  the  Church.  It  might  have  been  considered 
fortunate,  by  some  persons,  if  his  writings  had  contain- 
ed fewer  things  which  St.  Peter  described  as  hard  to 
be  understood.  Yet  I  am  slow  to  say  even  that.  The 
misconceptions  of  those  passages  have  led  to  clearer 
views  of  the  truths  he  was  discussing,  and  have  result- 
ed in  bringing  forth  light  out  of  the  very  obscurity  that 
was  caused  by  them. 

St.  Paul  was  a  profound  and  an  abstract  thinker. 
At  the  same  time,  he  was  a  man  of  great  ardor ;  and 
he  would  pursue  a  thought,  and  state  it  strongly,  till  it 
would  almost  seem  as  if  he  had  forgotten  that  the  sub^- 
ject  could  be  viewed  in  any  other  light. 

If,  however,  the  point  he  is  urging  be  understood 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  191 

and  kept  in  view,  it  is  not.  in  general,  difficult  to  per- 
ceive what  limitations  he  would  himself  have  given  to 
his  general  assertions,  if  he  had  intended  to  state  the 
whole  subject  in  a  cool,  philosophical  manner.  Every 
body  perceives  that  it  is  very  unjust  to  take  the  vehe- 
ment declarations  of  one  who  is  arguing  a  case,  as  if 
they  were  the  calm  assertions  of  a  philosophical  and 
indifferent  observer.  Yet  this  injustice  is  what  causes 
the  difficulty  of  much  of  St.  Paul's  writings.  Bear  in 
mind  what  it  is  he  is  reasoning  about,  or  urging,  and 
then  read  a  whole  epistle  at  once^  and  I  think  you  will 
not  make  any  great  mistakes  as  to  his  design,  or  his 
meaning.  Never  take  a  single  line,  or  text,  and  hardly 
even  a  paragraph,  without  comparing  it  with  the  rest  of 
the  epistle,  and  ascertaining  its  relation  to  the  subject 
and  the  argument.  I  must  illustrate  my  meaning  by  a 
sentence  w^hich  is  often  in  the  mouths  of  disputants 
upon  controversial  points,  and  which  strikingly  shows 
the  necessity  of  the  comparison  I  have  mentioned. 

"  Therefore  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace 
"  with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  by  whom 
"  abo  we  have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein 
"  we  stand,  and  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God." 
Rom.  5.  1,2. 

Justification  by  faith,  in  the  polemical  sense  of  the 
words,  means  admission  to  the  happiness  of  heaven,  in 
consequence  of  our  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  his  atoning  for  our  sins,  and  in  all  the  other 
supposed  effects  of  his  death,  and  without  any  depend- 
ence upon  the  character  of  our  own  works.  None  of 
our  acts,  it  is  said,  can  be  good,  or  so  good  as  to  give 


192  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

US  any  merit  in  the  eyes  of  God,  and  consequently 
none  of  them  singly,  nor  all  of  them  put  together  can 
give  us  a  claim  to  admission  to  heaven ;  and  therefore 
faith  alone  saves  us  ;  our  works  are  of  no  avail ;  in- 
deed the  self-esteem  which  is  generated  by  what  are 
called  good  works  is  rather  an  obstacle  to  our  getting 
there,  and  it  would  be  better  not  to  have  it.  And  this 
is  the  doctrine  which  it  is  contended  by  many  is  main- 
tained by  St.  Paul  in  the  sentence  I  have  quoted, 
among  others.  The  end  of  the  whole  matter,  accord- 
ing to  this  view,  is  that  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  is 
made  to  preach  the  most  demorahzing  doctrine,  viz : 
that  good  and  evil  works  are  equally  valueless,  and 
that  all  which  is  important  is  that  our  faith  be  right. 

This  very  great  perversion,  as  it  seems  to  me,  of  the 
design  of  St.  Paul,  arises,  I  beheve,  from  want  of 
consideration  of  the  object  he  had  in  view  in  writing  to 
the  Romans.  He  dwelt  upon  the  importance  of  faith 
in  Christ.  Why  did  he  do  this  ?  Because  if  we  do 
not  believe  in  him,  and  in  his  promises  and  revelation 
of  the  mercy  of  God,  we  have  nothing  else  to  console 
us  under  our  consciousness  of  guilt  and  sin.  Every 
man,  be  he  Jew  or  Gentile,  has  this'  consciousness, 
the  Jew  of  imperfect  obedience  to  the  law  of  Moses, 
the  Gentile  of  imperfect  obedience  to  the  law  of  na- 
ture. And  nowhere  is  there  any  offer  of  pardon  for 
these  offences,  this  imperfect  obedience  of  which  we 
are  all  conscious,  but  in  the  gracious  promises  of  God's 
mercy  which  Christ  has  made.  Come  then  to  him, 
believe  in  him,  and  you  will  find  peace  to  your  troubled 
minds.     If  you  wish  to  be  justified,  or  accounted  just, 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  193 

and  rewarded  as  just,  it  must  be  by  means  of  the  par- 
don God  will  grant  to  your  sins.  There  is  no  other 
way  to  obtain  eternal  life  except  by  perfect  obedience. 
You  all  know  you  have  not  performed  this.  Come 
then  to  Christ.  It  is  by  him  we  have  access  to  this 
grace,  any  knowledge  of  the  kindness  and  merciful  dis- 
position of  God  ;  and  you  cannot  have  the  consolation 
of  this  promise,  unless  you  believe  the  words  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  has  come 
to  us  by  him.  It  is  by  faith  in  him,  therefore,  that  we 
stand  in  this  grace,  and  can  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory 
of  the  Lord.  Such  faith  does  not  dispense  with  good 
works.  If  we  believe  that  the  mercy  of  God  is  re- 
vealed to  us  by  Jesus  Christ,  we  must  also  believe 
what  he  told  us  about  the  means  of  obtaining  it,  repent- 
ance, and  doing  works  meet  for  repentance.  I  be- 
seech you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercy  of  God, 
which,  as  Jesus  has  told  us,  is  ready  to  forgive  the  sins 
you  repent  of  and  forsake,  that  you  present  your 
bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God, 
which  is  your  reasonable  service. 

It  appears  to  me  that  this  is  a  mode  of  interpretation 
which  makes  the  epistle  consistent  with  itself,  with 
common  sense,  and  with  true  Christianity ;  while  the 
former  scheme  seems  inconsistent  with  all  three. 

In  another  place  St.  Paul  says,  "Who  shall  lay  any 
"thing  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is  God  that 
"justifieth;  who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  It  is  Christ 
"  that  died,  yea,  rather  that  is  risen  again;"  i.  e.  Who 
shall  reproach  those  whom  God  has  selected  to  receive 
the  glad  tidings  of  the  Gospel,  with  their  sins  ?     Who 

17 


194  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

shall  say,  they  sin  like  other  men,  and  like  other  men 
they  must  suffer  ?  True,  we  come  short  of  our  duty, 
but  we  have  the  blessed  hope  that  God  will  yet  favor- 
ably regard  us,  and  pardon  and  justijy  us.  Who  shall 
condemn  us  to  the  eternal  sleep  themselves  expect  .'* 
Do  we  not  know  that  Christ  died  that  he  might  rise 
again,  and  prove  to  us  that  the  future  hfe  was  no  idle 
dream  ?  Well  might  he  add,  that  nothing  could  sep- 
arate the  love  of  God  from  the  Christian's  heart,  for 
the  mercy  which  he  had  promised  by  His  Son.  our 
Lord. 

Observe  here,  particularly,  that  St.  Paul  lays  more 
stress  upon  the  resurrection  than  upon  the  death  of 
Christ.  But  according  to  the  system  from  which  I 
differ,  it  is  the  death  of  Christ  which  is  all  important, 
as  the  great  atonement  to  God's  justice  for  human  sin. 
So  in  that  glorious  passage  in  the  1st  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  St.  Paul  says,  with  a  repetition  which 
marks  his  earnestness  and  his  sense  of  the  importance 
of  what  he  was  urging,  *'  If  Christ  be  not  risen^  then  is 
"our  preaching  vain,"  &c.  ''If  Christ  be  not  raised^ 
''  your  faith  is  vain  ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins."  "  But 
"now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,"  &c.  Why  all 
this  earnestness  about  the  resurrection  ?  If  the  proof 
of  a  future  life  was  so  unimportant  a  matter,  both  to 
the  unenlightened  heathen  and  the  elect  Christian,  com- 
pared with  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  having  suffered  and 
died  for  sin  which  he  did  not  commit,  why  does  St. 
Paul  dwell  on  the  resurrection,  and  never  so  much  as 
once  say  that  the  death  of  Jesus  was  the  important 
doctrine  ?     He  declares,  plainly  enough,  that  if  Christ 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  195 

be  raised,  then  belief  in  him  is  not  in  vain.  Why  does 
he  not  say,  if  Christ  died  and  made  atonement  for  sin, 
faith  in  him  is  not  vain?  Simply  because,  as  I  be- 
lieve, it  never  entered  into  his  head  that  any  body 
would  ever  devise  so  extraordinary  a  scheme ;  or  that 
from  passages  in  his  own  writings  there  would  be  drawn 
doctrines  that  positively  run  counter  to  his  elaborate 
arguments. 

In  the  epistle  to  the  Romans  he  was  talking  and  rea- 
soning about  the  Jews,  and  those  heathen  who  were 
favored  by  God  with  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  mat- 
ters of  religion,  and  urging  them  by  this  divine  mercy ^ 
to  show  themselves  worthy  of  it  by  pure  and  holy  lives. 
How  could  he  imagine  that  the  words  he  used  to  de- 
scribe them,  '^  God's  elect,"  would  ever  be  understood 
to  mean  those  whom  God  had  arbitrarily  selected  for 
future  happiness,  without  regard  to  their  moral  charac- 
ter ;  and  that  these  men  were  to  be  considered  as  justi- 
fied by  God  in  all  their  actions,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
because  Christ,  in  his  death,  had  paid  the  penalty  for 
their  sins  ?  Does  not  this  seem  to  you  an  altogether 
monstrous  perversion  of  the  whole  of  Christianity,  and 
a  wonderful  interpretation  of  St.  Paul?  Not  only  so, 
but  it  appears  to  me  one  of  the  most  dangerous  doc- 
trines to  the  purity  of  the  world  that  could  possibly  be 
devised  ;  and  I  regard  it  as  a  living  and  perpetual  proof 
of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  of  its  having  been 
adapted  to  the  human  heart  by  Him  who  created  both, 
that  notwithstanding  all  the  perversions  of  its  simple 
truths,  and  the  corruptions  of  its  beautiful  forms,  its 
being  overlaid  with  ceremonies,  and  buried  under  hea- 


196  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

ihenish  rites,  and  obscured  by  metaphysical  abstrac- 
tions, it  has  yet  been  able  to  make  men  better,  under 
all  even  of  its  worst  forms  ;  and  that  its  true  spirit  may 
still  be  discovered  by  study,  and  a  sincere  desire  to 
seek  and  to  follow  its  hght. 

I  am  very  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  speak  as  I  do  of 
doctrines  which  have  been  held  for  centuries  by  excel- 
lent and  wise  persons,  and  are  now  held  by  many  whom 
I  am  glad  to  reckon  among  my  friends,  and  for  whose 
talents  and  dispositions  I  have  very  great  respect.  But 
my  regard  for  them  ought  not  J:o  blind  me  to  what  I 
think  their  errors,  nor  lead  me  to  speak  with  favor  of 
opinions  which  seem  to  me  dangerous,  as  well  as  er- 
roneous. I  know  the  uprightness  of  these  excellent 
persons,  and  that  they  hold  these  views  with  perfect 
conscientiousness,  and  that  their  natural  integrity  of 
character,  cultivated  as  it  is  by  their  habitual  piety,  and 
self-denial,  will  save  them  from  the  practical  conse- 
quences of  their  theoretic  principles.  There  is  little 
harm  in  a  wrong  metaphysical  scheme,  provided  it  does 
laot  become  the  basis  of  conduct  in  conformity  with  it. 
And  as  long  as  I  know  that  ^'pure  rehgion  and  unde- 
"  filed,  before  God  and  the  father,  is  to  visit  thefather- 
''less  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  him 
''  [one's]  self  unspotted  from  the  world,"  so  long  as  I 
believe  that  the  kingdom  has  been  prepared,  "  from  the 
''foundation  of  the  world,"  for  those  who  feed  the 
hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  and  are  kind  to  the  stranger, 
the  sick,  and  the  prisoner,  I  shall  feel  no  uncomforta- 
ble doubts  as  to  the  future  condition  of  those  I  love  and 
respect,  whatever  may  he  the  creed  they  adopt.     I 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  197 

know  they  practise  the  virtues  required,  and  by  them, 
and  not  by  their  behef  in  this  or  that  article  of  a  techni- 
cal theology,  will  their  future  happiness  be  secured. 
They  think,  on  the  contrary,  that  want  of  faith  in  their 
creed  endangers  my  future  welfare,  and  that  of  those 
who  agree  with  me ;  and  this  I  look  upon  as  one  of 
the  worst  and  most  unhappy  consequences  of  their  doc- 
trine. It  makes  them  presumptuous  and  overbearing,  if 
their  temper  be  harsh ;  it  makes  them  miserable  from 
sympathy,  if  their  temper  be  kind. 

You  may  ask  the  very  natural  question,  how  I  know 
that  I  am  right,  and  others  wrong.  I  answer,  that  I 
do  not  pretend  to  knoiv  any  thing  in  the  same  sense 
that  God  knows  the  absolute  truth,  with  perfect  free- 
dom from  error.  But  I  seek,  and  hope^to  have  atr 
tained  truth  upon  this  subject  by  the  same  process  as 
upon  others.  The  Copernican  system  of  the  universe 
I  believe,  and  think  I  know,  to  be  true,  and  the  Pto- 
lemaic false,  though  it  has  been  held  by  wise  men. 
Why  ?  Because  the  former  is  more  consistent  with 
my  reason,  and  with  what  I  am  permitted  to  observe 
of  the  works  of  God.  And  the  religious  truths  I  hold 
seem  to  me,  in  like  manner,  more  consistent  with  my 
reason,  and  with  what  I  can  discover  in  the  records  of 
the  revelations  God  has  made  to  man.  It  is  in  this 
sense  I  believe,  and  think  I  know  them  to  be  true ;  to 
me,  at  least,  they  are  true ;  and  I  endeavor  to  satisfy 
you  and  others  of  the  fact,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the 
truth  itself,  but  because  I  think  these  opinions  have  the 
happiest  effect  upon  the  character,  and  would  lead  all 

17* 


198  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

to  see,  acknowledge  and  adore  the  goodness  of  God,  to 
understand  their  own  position,  to  perceive  and  to  per- 
form their  own  duty. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  more  agreeable  subject,  the 
contemplation  of  St.  Paul's  character  and  conduct.  It 
was  impossible  that  a  man  of  his  vigorous  mind,  exten- 
sive learning,  and  varied  accomplishments,  should  not 
take  an  active  part  in  the  efforts  to  extend  the  rehglon 
whose  disciples  he  had  once  persecuted.  We  accord- 
ingly find  him  writing,  travelling  and  speaking  more 
than  the  other  apostles,  and  with  a  power,  eloquence, 
ardor  and  effect  which  completely  satisfy  the  expecta- 
tion. One  cannot  reasonably  desire  more  of  any  suita- 
ble quality  than  is  to  be  found  in  St.  Paul ;  nor  can  one 
readily  imagine  any  thing  he  should  have  done,  and  did 
not  do,  or  should  have  said,  and  did  not  say.  There 
are  no  more  skilful  and  finished  specimens  of  eloquence 
than  his  orations,  especially  his  defence  before  Festus 
and  Agrippa  ;  nor  are  there  any  where  more  acute  logi- 
cal arguments,  or  more  fervent,  honest  zeal,  or  more 
pure  and  elevated  sentiments,  or  more  thorough,  heart- 
felt piety,  than  are  to  be  found  in  his  letters  to  the  va- 
rious churches  and  individuals  he  addressed. 

Where  now  is  the  argument  that  the  apostles  were 
vulgar,  uneducated  persons,  unable  to  discern  between 
truth  and  falsehood,  reality  and  imposture  ?  If  learn- 
ing, genius,  knowledge  of  the  world,  sagacity,  and  up- 
rightness constitute  a  competent  witness,  then  St.  Paul 
deserves  to  be  beheved ;  and  if  any  will  doubt  what 
such  a  man  reports  as  of  his  own  experience,  and  ar- 
gues for  on  grounds  which  have  satisfied  him,  ''  neither 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  199 

"  will  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the 
"dead." 

It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  conversion  of  St. 
Paul  were  designed  as  a  special  and  particular  answer 
to  this  anticipated  objection.  There  are  other  suffi- 
cient answers,  but  this  is  decided,  and  direct.  Here 
is  the  very  man  pointed  out  by  the  objector  as  wanting, 
coming  forward  boldly,  ardently,  perseveringly,  and 
carrying  with  him  conviction  and  satisfaction  to  thou- 
sands then  and  since,  and  to  myriads  of  generations,  I 
trust,  yet  to  be  born. 

I  shall  not  go  into  verbal  criticism  on  the  language 
of  the  epistles,  any  more  than  I  did  upon  that  of  the 
Gospels.  It  would  swell  out  this  little  book  to  a  vast 
size,  without  necessity,  for  there  are  abundant  sources 
of  all  the  information  you  need  upon  this  point.  I  will, 
however,  mention  one  treatise  which  I  desire  you  par- 
ticularly to  study,  as  one  of  the  most  admirable  speci- 
mens of  ingenious  investigation  ever  produced.  It  has 
particular  reference  to  the  life  of  St.  Paul,  and  com- 
pares what  is  told  of  him  in  the  Acts  with  incidental 
remarks  and  casual  observations  in  the  epistles.  It  is 
not  exactly  verbal  criticism,  but  it  serves  to  explain 
many  a  sentence,  and  will  put  you  in  the  way  of  find- 
ing out  much  truth.  I  refer  to  the  work  of  Paley, 
called  Horaas  Paulinae.  The  object  is  to  shew  the 
truth  of  the  account  in  Acts  from  these  incidental  cir- 
cumstances in  the  epistles  and  vice  versa ;  and  the  ne- 
cessary inference  is,  if  the  history  in  Acts  be  true,  that 
in  the  Gospels  must  be  true  also,  and  so  Christianity 
is  established. 


200  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

Whatever  difficulties  there  are,  in  the  language  of 
the  epistles,  are  found  principally  in  those  of  St.  Paul, 
as  those  of  Peter,  James,  John  and  Jude  are  sufficient- 
ly intelhgihle  on  careful  perusal.  So  I  think  you  will 
find  even  those  of  St.  Paul  too,  if  you  will  ascertain 
and  reflect  upon  the  circumstances  of  those  whom  he 
addressed,  and  the  object  he  had  in  view,  and  then 
read  a  whole  epistle  consecutively,  so  as  to  get  an  idea 
of  his  argument  and  illustration,  his  doctrines  and  his 
precepts.  My  only  design  is  to  give  you  some  general 
views  of  the  subject,  to  point  out  the  object  you  should 
have  in  view,  and  the  general  means  of  obtaining  it ; 
and  if  I  shall  have  succeeded,  in  any  good  degree,  it 
will  be  a  great  reward  for  a  pleasant  labor. 

The  only  remaining  book  in  the  Bible  is  the  Revela- 
tion of  St.  John ;  and  of  this  I  can  say  nothing  which 
is  at  all  satisfactory.  It  is  a  work  the  design  of  which 
I  do  not  understand,  and  of  which  I  have  never  seen 
an  explanation  that  seemed  even  plausible.  It  is  a 
mysterious  production,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word 
mysterious  ;  it  is  unintellible,  dark ;  and  though  it  is 
called  revelation,  it  seems  to  have  revealed  nothing  to 
any  body,  unless  it  were  to  St.  John  himself.  There 
is  nothing  in  it  unworthy  of  an  apostle,  and  the  des- 
criptions are,  to  say  the  least  of  them,  of  a  very  high 
poetic  character,  and  if  they  are  also  prophetic,  the 
probability  is,  that  the  events  to  which  they  relate  not 
having  yet  occurred,  their  application  is  not  and  can- 
not be  understood. 

Let  it  remain  then  a  sealed  book,  and  be  not  alarm- 
ed at  any  of  the  fanciful  interpretations  which  occa- 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  201 

sionally  agitate  the  world.  Heretofore  explanations 
have  been  attempted  by  many  persons  little  competent 
to  the  task,  and  if,  hereafter,  any  learned  man  should 
produce  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  it,  I  have  little 
doubt  that  it  will  be  found  of  no  agitating  or  exciting 
nature.  Excitement  and  agitation  are  things  not  en- 
couraged by  Christianity.  True  religion  is  designed 
to  produce  permanent  influences  upon  the  heart  and 
character,  not  transient  emotions  ;  and  although  it  is 
not  impossible  that  a  strong  emotion,  may  produce  last- 
ing effects ,  yet  the  probability  is  the  other  way  ;  and 
the  more  violent  the  excitement,  the  less  likely  it  is  to 
leave  a  deep  impression. 

Generally  when  men  attempt  to  get  up  an  agitation 
in  the  community,  upon  any  subject,  it  is  either  for 
some  selfish  object,  or  to  procure  a  certain  notoriety 
which  some  persons  covet  as  if  it  were  great  gain  to 
them.  In  most  cases,  if  they  did  but  know  the  private 
opinion  of  calm  observers,  they  would  find  the  gain 
was  no  equivalent  for  the  loss. 

Our  Saviour  was  once  asked,  by  some  of  the  Phar- 
isees, when  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come.  His 
reply  was,  "The  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with 
"observation;  neither  shall  they  say,  Lo  here  !  or  Lo 
"there  !  for  behold,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within 
you."  This  was  a  perfect  answer  to  those  who  im- 
agined the  Messiah's  kingdom  was  to  be  the  temporal 
splendor  of  the  Jewish  nation.  Is  it  not  also  a  perfect 
answer  to  those  who  produce  agitation  upon  religious 
subjects,  who  attract  "observation"  to  themselves, 


202  THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES. 

and  who  induce  others  to  exclaim  ''Lo  here"  is  the 
guide  to  heaven,  '' Lo  there"  is  the  church  which  is 
the  gate  thereof  ? 

Agitation  and  excitement,  on  the  subject,  are  much 
more  nealy  alhed  to  the  imagination,  or  to  sympathy, 
than  to  rehgion,  or  to  the  rehgious  sentiment ;  and  I 
pray  you  to  recollect  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God  is  with- 
"  in  you."  God  knows  whether  that  kingdom  in  your 
breast  is  governed  by  His  laws  or  not,  and  it  is  no 
matter  whether  you  be  "observed"  by  others  to  con- 
form to  them.  Let  it  suffice  you  to  l^ow  yourselves. 
Be  not  anxious  that  others  should  know  you.  "Hast 
"thou  faith?  Have  it  to  thyself  before  God."  It 
is  sure  that  if  your  hearts  be  right  with  God,  others 
will  take  knowledge  of  you  that  you  have  been  with 
Jesus. 

But  it  is,  after  all,  "a  small  thing  to  be  judged  of 
"man's  judgment,"  compared  with  the  decree  which 
God  will,  one  day,  pass  upon  us.  The  preparation 
for  this  is  the  true  object  of  hfe  ;  and  if  that  be  effect- 
ed we  need  not  and  we  shall  not,  be  afraid  to  die. 
There  is  but  one  way  to  make  this  preparation,  and 
that  is  "to  keep  your  conscience  void  of  offence  to- 
"  ward  God  and  toward  man."  It  is  necessary  to  seek 
and  study  what  is  right,  that  you  may  not  mistake  your 
duty ;  it  is  necessary  to  pray  for  God's  blessing  on 
your  efforts,  which  without  that  can  never  succeed, 
and  the  blessing  will  not  come  unless  it  be  asked  ;  and 
lastly  it  is  necessary  to  be  in  earnest ;  and  to  perse- 
vere in  your  exertions  to  do  the  work  which  is  given 


THE    ACTS    AND    EPISTLES.  203 

you  to  do.  If  that  be  accomplished,  the  object  of 
your  existence  is  attained ;  and  you  will  be  removed  to 
another  sphere  of  hfe  and  happiness,  with  faculties  of 
perception,  of  reason,  and  of  enjoyment  improved  by 
the  discipline  of  life. 

But  it  is  true,  not  only  of  the  future  world,  but  of 
this,  that  in  keeping  the  commandments  of  God  "  there 
''is  great  reward."  If  you  seek  for  happiness  and  would 
avoid  misery  here,  do  it  by  the  same  course  by  which 
you  hope  to  attain  the  life  that  is  to  come,  "  by  living 
"  soberly,  righteously  and  piously."  Be  grateful  to 
God,  not  merely  for  having  created  you  to  live  in  this 
pleasant  w^orld,  but  for  having  given  you  a  sure  guide 
to  increasing  happiness  both  here  and  hereafter.  Con- 
template the  goodness  which  has  provided  for  you  not 
merely  the  ordinary  blessings  of  existence,  but  these 
especial  advantages  over  so  large  a  portion  of  mankind, 
till  your  love  of  God  grows  ardent,  and  you  feel  that 
you  can  and  ought  to  love  Him  with  all  your  heart. 
Contemplate  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ  till  you  be- 
come emulous  of  it,  and  seek  to  follow  in  his  steps. 
And  that  you  may  keep  the  most  important  truths  and 
principles  fresh  in  your  memories  and  your  hearts, 
truths  and  principles  which  are  important  for  "  the 
''  life  that  now  is,  and  for  that  which  is  to  come," 

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